The December event is expected to be awkward.
Donald Trump is already looking forward to the World Cup. EPA / AOP
The group draw for next summer’s World Cup final tournament will be held in Washington DC in December.
It is becoming a big Trump show, writes the Norwegian Dagbladet, among others. Gianni Infantino, the president of the international soccer association Fifa, has been fraternizing with the US president in recent months Donald Trump’s with quite openly.
When Fifa announced that it would hand out its new peace prize in connection with the group draw, The Times newspaper reported that the first winner of the prize is very likely to be Trump.
– It appears as a form of bribery. The rich umbrella organization Fifa has invented a peace prize for Trump to boost his ego. It’s shameful from Fifa, says Rutgers University politics professor Ross Baker to Dagbladet.
Trump did not win to covet the Nobel Peace Prize. Coincidentally, at the end of the year Fifa came up with a new peace prize, which is awarded where US policy is made.
– The Soccer World Cup is a huge opportunity for Trump to do sports laundry. It takes attention away from other problems, University of the Pacific politics professor Jules Boykoff says to a Norwegian newspaper.
Professor of sports sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada Tim Elcombe says that Fifa’s management has done relationship work more visibly than ever before with those in power.
He recalls that Infantino rubbed relationships Vladimir Putin with already before the World Cup in Russia 2018.
– We have to support Trump because he is doing good things, Infantino said at a business conference organized in Miami in November.
Infantino has been heavily criticized.
In addition to the United States, the World Cup hosts Mexico and Canada. The tournament will be played from 11 June to 19 July 2026.