You'd hope the Fifa peace prize would encourage Trump to pursue real peace in Gaza and elsewhere

Scotland football fans, like fans in small countries worldwide, are used to disappointment. I’m one of them.

The worst bit is not the despair. It’s the hope – the hope that the team will do well – and then crashing out. Scotland last qualified for the finals of the Fifa World Cup back in 1998, but now the team is through to next year’s finals, and it is set to be an extraordinary affair. Jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 World Cup will be the biggest and most diverse football tournament ever.

Scotland qualified by beating Denmark 4-2 thanks to two astonishing goals in extra time, but the joy and excitement is diminished by knowing that Scotland’s group next year contains Brazil, the most successful national team in World Cup history. Brazil has won the trophy a record five times. Scotland also face up-and-coming teams from Morocco and Haiti.

Beyond the predictable dramas on the pitch, there are signs that the World Cup is unique for reasons that have nothing to do with the beautiful game. Relations between the current US administration and its neighbouring joint hosts Mexico and Canada are already strained by American President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariff threats.

The Trump administration’s hostility towards migrants coming through Mexico is also a source of irritation, and at times anger, across Latin America. Then there is the continuing sabre-rattling that includes the enormous US military build-up in the Caribbean. The Pentagon says it is targeting drug smugglers and the illegal fentanyl trade from Venezuela, while reports from law enforcement organisations suggest that the main source of fentanyl for US users is, in fact, Mexico.

Fifa awards Donald Trump its inaugural peace prize 01:24

Beyond what might be called the usual diplomatic, economic, trade and security problems concerning the US President, there is also now the strange but revealing tale of the “Fifa peace prize”.

It’s certainly not the Nobel Peace Prize. That dates from 1901. Instead, the world footballing body says this completely new honour “recognises the enormous efforts of those individuals who unite people, bringing hope for future generations”. The first-ever recipient of the first-ever football peace prize is the US President.

This resulted in an awkward televised ceremony during which Fifa president Gianni Infantino presented the prize to a clearly delighted Mr Trump in Washington’s Kennedy Centre.