Shame of FIFA's fake peace prize

WHAT was meant to be a global celebration of football instead spiralled into one of the most uncomfortable spectacles the sport has ever staged.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

The World Cup draw should unite the world in anticipation. Instead, it became the backdrop for FIFA boss Gianni Infantino's most unvarnished act of political grovelling yet.

As the sport's MAGA fanboy handed Donald Trump a freshly invented “Peace Prize”, gasps rippled across the football world.

The event, held barely a mile from the White House at the Kennedy Centre, had already felt oddly political. But few imagined it would turn into a full-blown tribute show to a US President whose foreign policy currently involves bombing boats off Venezuela while floating the idea of gifting parts of Ukraine to Vladimir Putin.

First came the montage - glossy, glowing, Trump from every angle. Then a vast trophy was wheeled out, Trump’s name engraved upon it. The FIFA president returned to the stage to proclaim: “The first winner of the FIFA Peace Prize: Mr Donald Trump.”