Fifty members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called on FIFA’s Ethics Committee to investigate president Gianni Infantino over his decision to award a FIFA ‘Peace Prize’ to United States President Donald Trump.
The lawmakers backed a complaint submitted in December by British-based sports human rights organisation FairSquare, arguing that the move may have breached FIFA’s obligation to remain politically neutral.
In a letter dated 29 June and released by FairSquare on Thursday, the MEPs urged FIFA’s Ethics Committee to establish whether the creation of the annual Peace Prize and its award to President Trump were approved by the FIFA Council or its bureau, or whether Infantino acted unilaterally.
The letter stated that the investigation would provide FIFA with an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to “political neutrality, transparency and accountability”.
The 50 signatories, representing 13 European countries, echoed FairSquare’s concerns that FIFA’s Code of Ethics requires its leadership to remain politically impartial.
So far, Norway is the only one of FIFA’s 211 member associations to have publicly called for an investigation. The Norwegian Football Federation wrote to FIFA in June requesting that the matter be examined.
FairSquare described the intervention by the European lawmakers as “the most significant” political challenge to FIFA’s governance since the European Parliament called on former FIFA president Sepp Blatter to resign in 2015.
Blatter stepped down in June 2015 shortly after securing re-election amid a major corruption scandal.
The MEPs supporting the complaint are predominantly from the Social Democrats, Liberals and Green political groups. The initiative was led by 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, host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, as well as the governing body’s sponsorship agreement with Saudi state-owned energy giant Aramco, which they described as “the world’s biggest corporate polluter”.
