EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — President Donald Trump’s World Cup ended with something he likely loved: being showered in gold.
Read more JD and Usha Vance announce birth of fourth child
Trump appeared to shake off FIFA President Gianni Infantino as he lingered onstage after presenting Spain their second World Cup trophy ever. Trump stood next to the team as they lifted the trophy and cannons of gold confetti shot in the air. Infantino ushered Trump further from the team as they celebrated, putting the FIFA head and the president directly in the path of the flittering confetti.
Trump was loudly booed as he entered the field after the match, waving to people as he made his way to the stage. He received a more mixed response when he was briefly shown on the big screen in the stadium after the national anthem. The reflective glass of his box made it difficult to see the president on screen.
Trump had long viewed the tournament as one of the signature events of his term: a chance to showcase his version of the United States to the world, in the middle of a summer that also included America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Throughout the game, Fox aired commercials promoting the upcoming Freedom 250 Grand Prix, an auto race around national monuments that the White House is promoting.
The hosting of the World Cup was awarded to the U.S., Canada and Mexico during Trump’s first term. It arrived eight years later as the largest version of the tournament ever staged — a 48-team, 104-match spectacle stretching nearly six weeks and carrying a global audience measured in the billions.
“It turns out we are a soccer country,” Trump said in an interview ahead of the game with Fox. “We’re a football country, we don’t want to get it confused. But I don’t think there’s anything like what’s happened with the World Cup.”
Trump appeared to enjoy interacting with the players as he presented them each with medals. He patted them and spoke with them, with the players often reciprocating.
The World Cup was a family affair for the Trumps. Melania Trump was seated next to him in the box, and his extended family — including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump; Eric and Lara Trump; and Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos — were all in a box together in the stadium. Kushner was seen chatting with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos during the game.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sat in the box with Trump. Trump told reporters that he spoke to Carney about the need to stop wildfires. He said that Canada should “pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs.”
Before the game he spoke about his friendship with Javier Milei, the president of Argentina who opted not to attend the game due to superstitions because he watched the prior seven games at home. Trump declined to take a side, but he said he would not bet against veteran player Lionel Messi.
“I would say Spain played better, really, but they both played well,” Trump told reporters after the game, which he called a “close match.” He said he congratulated Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on the victory.
Though Sunday marked the first match he attended, the specter of Trump has hung over this World Cup since long before he took his seat Sunday.
Read more An epic World Cup goes even longer, with Spain finishing on top
Though the U.S. was only one of three host countries, sharing the tournament with Canada and Mexico, Trump has often been the leader most eager to thrust himself into its spotlight, and his administration had been visible throughout the tournament. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin represented the government at the Americans’ opener against Paraguay. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attended the U.S. match against Bosnia, and second lady Usha Vance was at the Americans’ group-stage finale against Turkey.
Trump’s most direct involvement came after Folarin Balogun, the Americans’ leading scorer, was shown a red card in the U.S. team’s round-of-32 win over Bosnia. Balogun was due to miss the next match, a high-stakes meeting with Belgium, before FIFA made the surprising decision to suspend the automatic one-game ban for a one-year probationary period.
The decision came after Trump spoke directly with Infantino and urged him to review the play. Trump later said he did not ask Infantino to produce a specific outcome. “I didn’t tell him what to do,” Trump said, adding that it would have been a “stain” on the tournament if Balogun had been forced to sit out.
The episode sparked an international backlash, and critics across the soccer world questioned whether political influence had seeped into a process FIFA has long described as independent. The U.S. ultimately lost to Belgium anyway, but the controversy reinforced how closely Trump and Infantino had tied themselves to this tournament.
Their relationship had been conspicuous for years. Infantino has repeatedly appeared with Trump, FIFA rented office space in Trump Tower, and Trump has kept a model of the World Cup trophy near the Resolute Desk. The World Cup draw was moved to Washington at Trump’s urging, bringing one of the tournament’s signature pre-event ceremonies to the Kennedy Center. At that event, Infantino presented Trump with FIFA’s inaugural peace prize, an honor with a murky selection process that was derided by critics and human rights activists as another sign of FIFA’s willingness to flatter the American president whose government it needed as a partner.
“This has not just been — and is not just — the greatest World Cup of all time,” Infantino said Friday at a Trump Tower reception with Trump. “It is the greatest human, social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed and seen, and we are all part of it, and for this I thank you very much, Mr. President.”
Trump also repeatedly threatened to relocate World Cup matches from U.S. cities led by Democratic officials, raising questions about whether the president might use the tournament as political leverage. Those threats hovered over an event already complicated by the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including restrictions that included carve-outs for players, coaches and some team personnel but not necessarily for ordinary fans hoping to travel to the United States.
The tensions had been visible a year earlier at the FIFA Club World Cup final, also staged at MetLife Stadium. Trump watched Chelsea defeat Paris Saint-Germain from a midfield suite. After the match, Trump took the field with Infantino for the medal ceremony, drawing loud boos as he pumped his fists and stepped onto the presentation stage. He then lingered near the trophy as Chelsea’s players prepared to celebrate their 3-0 victory, a scene that left some of them exchanging puzzled looks as the president remained in the middle of their team photo and trophy lift.
That moment previewed a dynamic that followed the sport’s biggest event into its final weekend: FIFA needed a smooth relationship with the American president, and Trump, drawn to the pageantry of major sports, proved more than willing to occupy the stage.
Trump is already seeking an opportunity to host FIFA in the U.S. again. He said he suggested to Infantino that FIFA could announce the U.S. was the next host, along with another country to minimize backlash.
“We have to do this again, and we have to do it while I’m around,” Trump said.
The next men’s FIFA World Cup in 2030 will be primarily co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, and Saudi Arabia is widely expected to host the 2034 competition. The next available World Cup will be in 2038, nearly a decade after Trump’s second term ends in 2029.
Read more Maine Democrats rally around logger Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner
