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A human rights organization has accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of violating his organization's rules because of his public support for Donald Trump and awarding the peace prize to the US president.
FairSquare, a London-based non-profit human rights organization, said on Tuesday it had filed the demands for an investigation into Infantino's alleged violations of FIFA's statutory duty to be politically neutral.
FIFA said its ethics committee does not comment on potential cases and could not confirm receipt of the complaint.
- FIFA's new peace prize awarded to US President Donald Trump
FIFA's code of ethics calls for a ban from football of up to two years for breaching the duty of neutrality, although it is unclear whether the case will be considered. The current ethics investigators and judges appointed by FIFA are seen by some observers as acting with less independence than their predecessors a decade ago, when then-president Sepp Blatter was removed from office.
Infantino has expressed support for Trump and his policies. In October, Infantino used his Instagram account to say that Trump "definitely deserves" the Nobel Peace Prize.
The FIFA chief has also closely linked soccer with the United States government ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The tournament is expected to generate more than $10 billion for FIFA.
Political leaders from the US, Mexico and Canada joined Infantino on stage to kick off the World Cup tournament draw last Friday in Washington, DC, after Trump received the FIFA Peace Prize for the first time.
After a video of Trump was shown in the draw before he received the award, Infantino said: " This is what we want from a leader... you definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action for what you have won on your way, but you have won it in an extraordinary way and you can always count on me Mr. President ."
Infantino said in a November interview at the American Business Forum in Miami that "we should all support what [Trump] is doing [in the US] because I think it looks pretty good."
The FairSquare letter also referred to an Instagram post by Infantino on January 20, the day of Trump's inauguration.
" Together we will make not only America great again, but also the whole world ," Infantino said at the end of a message.
"The awarding of an award of this nature to a sitting political leader is in itself a clear breach of FIFA's duty of neutrality," FairSquare said in an eight-page complaint.
FIFA has not specified how Infantino created the peace prize last month, although people familiar with the process in private conversations said they learned about it through media reports.
" If Mr Infantino acted unilaterally and without any statutory authority, this should be considered a grave abuse of power ," FairSquare said.
FairSquare has previously challenged FIFA over the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, the host of the 2034 World Cup; the influence of the kingdom's oil company Aramco, which is a top-tier sponsor of the World Cup; FIFA's governance standards; and FIFA's slow investigation into possible statute violations regarding teams from Israeli settlements playing in the national soccer league./" ESPN ", adapted in Albanian, "Pamphlet"
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