Official FIFA complaint made over Donald Trump's Peace Prize

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FT Desk

The Norwegian FA have made three complaints to FIFA regarding Gianni Infantino, including one that deals with his relationship with United States President Donald Trump.

Infantino is under massive pressure at the moment after a series of controversies and three separate complaints have been filed against the FIFA president to the governing body's ethics committee and to its governance, audit and compliance committee

The first relates to his decision to award Trump the FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw in December. It was viewed as an act to massage the politician's ego which caused fury among some, as FIFA is supposed to remain a politically neutral organisation.

NFF president Lisa Klaveness previously said of the FIFA Peace Prize: “We want to see it abolished. We don’t think it’s part of FIFA’s mandate to give such a prize. We have a Nobel Institute that does that job independently already. This peace prize given at the [World Cup] draw in Washington was a breach of FIFA’s own statutes of political neutrality and there was a lack of legal process within FIFA.

“It’s important for FIFA’s federations, confederations and also FIFA itself to try to avoid situations where this arm’s-length distance to state leaders is challenged. And these prizes will typically be very political if you don’t have really good instruments and experiments and experience to make this independent and to have a jury and criteria. That is full-time work. It’s so sensitive.

“From a resource angle, from a mandate angle, and most importantly from a governance angle, it should be avoided in the future.”

During the World Cup, FIFA intervened to overturn USMNT striker Folarin Balogun's red card to allow him to play in a Round of 26 tie against Belgium. It was later revealed by Trump himself that he personally contacted Infantino to see if Balogun could be allowed to play.

Then, following the tournament, reports emerged that Infantino was planning to sell shares in the World Cup to private equity firms. The reaction to the plans was so negative that he was forced to abandon them after just a couple of days.

The Peace Prize, the Balogun saga and the failed FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal make up Norway's three complaints.

“FIFA is in one of its biggest crises in many, many years. We need to change the structure, or to make it work," Klaveness told the Times.

“These are three very different factual cases, but they all have something in common that we want examined: is it an abuse of power, an abuse of position? Is it a breach of political neutrality? Is it in accordance with the rules of governance, as the FIFA Council should be the strategic body and the president shouldn’t really have any unilateral power?”

English Football Association chairwoman Debbie Hewitt previously demanded that FIFA release all documents and correspondence relating to the Balogun scandal as well as the FIFA Forward Enterprise plans.

“We need full disclosure of all communication, not just written communication, but also of course phone calls, to prove that it was not influenced,” Klaveness added, supporting Hewitt's demand.

“What did the FIFA president, the FIFA general secretary say if they spoke to him [Trump]? When you have the most powerful person in the world wanting something, and it ends up with a very controversial decision which the world has never seen before, then you actually have to document that the opposite has happened.

“FIFA Forward Enterprise is a governance issue but it’s connected to the two other cases because [of] conflict of interest and abuse of position, potentially. There is a line between all these three cases and it’s the same political regime. The FFE is also about: did he [Infantino] go too far related to his power? Is it a conflict of interest and, if so, is that conflict of interest related to some personal interests?”

The full Norwegian FA complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee asks the governing body to examine “the conduct of Infantino and any other individuals identified through the investigation for potential breaches of FIFA’s code of ethics”.

The second filing is to FIFA’s governance, audit and compliance committee and asks whether “FIFA’s governance, financial oversight, internal controls and decision-making processes worked as they should”.