The Norwegian Football Federation have announced their support for FairSquare’s filing of an ethics complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and have said they will write to FIFA to relay their concerns.
FairSquare filed its complaint with the Investigatory Chamber to the Ethics Committee on 8 December 2025, three days after Gianni Infantino awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump. The complaint addressed four occasions on which Mr Infantino expressed his public support for the actions and policies of President Trump and also requested that the Ethics Committee investigate apparent violations of FIFA’s procedural rules in the award of the prize. FIFA acknowledged receipt of the complaint on 12 December, but noted that it was “not in a position to provide you with any further information regarding the state of the proceedings.”
At a press conference on 27 April, NFF President Lise Klaveness said “first and foremost we support that FairSquare has made the complaint and that it should be addressed, it should be assessed and it should be a transparent process.” Klaveness criticised the process by which the prize was awarded as not being “anchored in the FIFA Council”, but said it was up to the Ethics Committee to decide whether rules on political neutrality had been breached. Klaveness said the NFF would write to FIFA to relay its concerns. The NFF was mandated to act by its members, after Norwegian club Kringlebotn put forward a motion at the NFF’s annual congress in February requesting that the federation formally call on FIFA to abolish the prize.
Article 15 of the FCE requires football officials to “remain politically neutral” in dealing with governments, and provides for a ban on football related activity for up to two years, a penalty that can be increased in cases of repeated breaches. Since its award to President Trump, Infantino has committed further breaches, notably in February 2026 when he signed an agreement between FIFA and President Trump’s ‘Board of Pearce’, which is a political body controlled by Donald Trump. The deal commits FIFA to “to actively source investment from international leaders and institutions harnessing the power of football to support recovery, stability and long-term development in conflict-affected regions.” As with the award of the Peace Prize, there is no evidence that the FIFA Council approved the decision to enter into an agreement with the Board of Peace. Infantino posted a video to his Instagram account of himself at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, which included a shot of him wearing a red hat emblazoned with ‘USA’ and the numbers ‘45-47’ — a reference to Trump’s non-consecutive presidencies.
Nicholas McGeehan, FairSquare’s director, said:
“It’s important to note the critical role that Norway’s democratic system of football governance played in the NFF taking this laudable stance. It’s a great shame that Norway seems to stand alone on an issue that goes to the heart of the governance problems eating away at football, but Lise Klaveness’s comments are a reminder that there are people at the top level of football governance who still believe that rules are important and have the resolve and courage to insist on transparency and accountability.”
