A group of 50 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) has petitioned FIFA’s ethics committee to investigate its president, Gianni Infantino, over the decision to award a peace prize to United States President Donald Trump.
Gatekeepers News reports that the lawmakers backed a complaint initially filed in December by UK-based sports human rights organisation FairSquare, arguing that the award may have breached FIFA’s rules on political neutrality.
In a letter dated June 29 and released on Thursday by FairSquare, the MEPs said FIFA’s code of ethics requires its president to remain politically neutral.
The lawmakers urged FIFA’s ethics committee to determine whether the decision to establish an annual FIFA Peace Prize and subsequently award its inaugural honour to Trump was approved by the FIFA Council, its bureau, or made unilaterally by Infantino.
The letter stated that the complaint presents an opportunity for FIFA to demonstrate its commitment to transparency, accountability and political neutrality.
“This complaint represents an opportunity for FIFA to prove its commitment to political neutrality, transparency, and accountability,” the European lawmakers said.
So far, Norway is the only one of FIFA’s 211 member associations to publicly support calls for an investigation. In June, the Norwegian Football Federation formally requested that FIFA examine the circumstances surrounding the award.
In a separate statement, FairSquare described the intervention as the most significant action by European policymakers on governance issues in world football since the European Parliament called for the resignation of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2015.
Blatter stepped down in June 2015 shortly after securing re-election as FIFA president.
According to FairSquare, the 50 signatories come from 13 European countries and are mainly members of the Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens political groups. The lead signatories include Ireland’s Barry Andrews, the Netherlands’ Lara Wolters, Denmark’s Niels Fuglsang and Germany’s Sebastian Everding.
Beyond the peace prize controversy, the lawmakers also criticised FIFA’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is set to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and the organisation’s sponsorship agreement with Saudi state-owned energy giant Aramco.
The MEPs described Aramco as “the world’s biggest corporate polluter” and questioned FIFA’s governance and commercial decisions.
