United States of America President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino Credit: Mandel Ngan-Reuters via Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

From the people who brought you United Passions, the 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw was everything you’d expect it was.

We all know by now that any FIFA production is going to be over the top, but Friday’s World Cup Draw exceeded even the most well-adjusted expectations. It took nearly 90 minutes of pre-show festivities for FIFA to finally begin slotting teams into their World Cup groups, and boy was it a doozy to get there.

Between musical numbers, FIFA state-approved monologues by Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s love affair with President Donald Trump, the World Cup Draw was a cringefest unlike the world has ever seen.

The highlight of FIFA’s 90-minute lead-up to the actual draw had to be awarding Trump the first annual FIFA Peace Prize, which was accompanied by a package that likely had Newsmax producers wondering if there were any job openings available with soccer’s global governing body.

The parallels of FIFA’s “peace prize” and the Nobel Peace Prize long coveted by the sitting president made for some predictable commentary on social media.

As he’s wont to do, Trump went off script after accepting the award, suggesting that maybe Americans should begin considering soccer the true “football.” That, one would have to imagine, would be a bridge too far.

Nearly two hours after Fox went on the air, and 90 minutes after FIFA’s production began, nations finally began to find out who they’d play next summer.

Credit where credit is due, aside from Tom Brady struggling to crack those pesky FIFA balls open (which contained the country names), the draw itself went rather smoothly, with Rio Ferdinand eloquently guiding viewers through which teams were going where. But man was it a slog to get there.

Not to be outdone, FIFA closed out the program with a banger by bringing out a true national treasure — the Village People — to perform a beautiful rendition of their hit-song “YMCA.”

And yes, Trump did the dance.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner