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ZURICH — FIFA announced Tuesday that it has posthumously awarded its inaugural Prize in Physics to O.J. Simpson, citing the late American football star and acquitted murderer’s “groundbreaking work on the two-body problem.”
Simpson, who died in April 2024, will be unable to attend the ceremony.
“O.J. Simpson attacked the two-body problem with a ferocity that left the scientific community speechless,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said at a press conference in Zurich. “It was a tough decision, but in the end there was no denying he absolutely slaughtered the competition.”
FIFA’s official citation described Simpson as a relentless pursuer who “slashed through decades of academic uncertainty” and “demonstrated, perhaps more than any figure in the modern era, that a single determined individual could elude an entire field for decades.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which administers the Nobel Prize in Physics, responded with a brief written statement noting that FIFA appeared to have confused the two-body problem with the three-body problem. The two-body problem, the Academy clarified, had been considered solved since the publication of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica in 1687, and did not represent a frontier of scientific inquiry.
“That, or they’re being really fucking dark,” added Dr. Erik Svensson, Secretary-General of the Academy, in a statement attributed to him personally.
The FIFA Prize in Physics was established in January, shortly after the organization awarded its inaugural Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump at the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw in Washington, D.C. FIFA officials said at the time that the Peace Prize had gone “extremely well” and that the organization saw “no reason to stop there.”
Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman following a criminal trial watched by an estimated 150 million people. He was later found liable in a civil suit and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages. The damages were not paid.
An attorney for the Goldman family said Tuesday that the prize, which carries a $50,000 honorarium, would be subject to garnishment to satisfy the outstanding civil judgment against Simpson’s estate, now valued at approximately $100 million with interest. “We are aware of the award,” the attorney said. “We will be in touch with FIFA.”
The selection committee had allegedly reviewed “numerous candidates” before settling on Simpson and FIFA said that deliberations had been “rigorous.” The committee is chaired by Infantino. Its other members have not been disclosed.
A spokesperson confirmed the organization was “exploring options” for a posthumous presentation but said no timeline had been set.
President Trump, writing on Truth Social, called Simpson “a GREAT athlete and probably innocent.” The post has received 47,000 likes.
Nicole Brown Simpson could not be reached for comment.
