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Soccer peace prize for Trump triggers complaints about Infantino to FIFA ethics investigators

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s public support for Donald Trump and a peace prize awarded to the U.S. president are the subjects of formal complaints to the global soccer body’s ethics investigators.

FairSquare, a London-based human rights nonprofit, said Tuesday it filed requests for investigations into Infantino’s alleged breaches of FIFA’s statutory duty to be politically neutral.

FIFA said its ethics committee does not comment on potential ongoing cases, and could not confirm receiving the complaint.

FIFA’s ethics code calls for a ban from soccer of up to two years for violating the duty of neutrality, though it is unclear if the case will be taken up. The FIFA-appointed current ethics investigators and judges are seen by some observers to operate with less independence than their predecessors a decade ago when then-president Sepp Blatter was removed from office.

Infantino has expressed views this year backing Trump and his policies, including suggesting the U.S. president deserved to get the Nobel Peace Prize which he did not win.

The FIFA leader also has closely aligned soccer with the United States government ahead of the men’s 2026 World Cup being co-hosted with Canada and Mexico. The tournament should earn more than $10 billion for FIFA.

Political leaders of all three co-hosts joined Infantino on stage to begin the World Cup tournament draw last Friday in Washington, D.C., after Trump got the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.

“The award of a prize of this nature to a sitting political leader is in and of 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 though 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 an egregious abuse of power,” FairSquare said.

FairSquare has previously challenged FIFA over the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, the 2034 World Cup host; the influence of the kingdom’s oil company Aramco which is a highest-tier World Cup sponsor; FIFA governance standards; and FIFA’s slow-moving investigation into possible statutes breaches relating to teams from Israeli settlements playing in the national soccer league.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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