FIFA President Gianni Infantino told Fox & Friends on Tuesday that President Donald Trump plans to attend at least one 2026 World Cup match — the final. And not just as a spectator.
Infantino said both he and Trump will be on the field during the trophy presentation after the championship game. We will be together with the president enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner of course,
Infantino said.
Trump has been a no-show so far through the tournament, skipping the U.S. men’s national team’s opener against Paraguay and their second game against Australia. He did call the team before kickoff and told them, according to The Athletic, that he thought they had a real shot at winning the whole thing.
The absence has been noticeable enough that the UK’s Telegraph ran a piece Tuesday asking where Trump’s been. They talked to Andrew Giuliani, the head of Trump’s World Cup task force, who basically said the president is playing it like a TV showrunner. I know he’s got a couple of international trips that he has planned as well as Independence Day, so the only thing I’ll tell you about my boss — and I’ve known him for, heck, 30 years, and he’s kind of like an uncle figure to me — he likes a good cliffhanger, right?
Giuliani told the paper. He likes to leave people watching, so all I can tell you is ‘keep tuned in,’ and I’m excited to see what the next steps are.
It’s not like Trump’s been holed up in the White House. He showed up for Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York — the only game the Knicks lost in that series — and for UFC 250, which organizers held on the White House lawn. The Knicks crowd let him have it with boos, and after the loss, some fans burned sage outside Madison Square Garden before Game 4 to cleanse what they called the bad energy he brought.
Some World Cup fans are probably bracing for a similar reaction when Trump eventually walks into a stadium. But he’s got at least one powerful ally in this: Infantino has been cozy with the president for a while now. The FIFA boss even created a new award called the FIFA World Peace and gave it to Trump earlier this year, after the president didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s already worked a trophy ceremony once. During the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, he handed the trophy to Chelsea’s players and then just… stayed on stage with them as they celebrated. Chelsea star Reece James told the BBC he was surprised. They told me that he was going to present the trophy and then exit the stage. I thought that he was going to exit the stage, but he wanted to stay.
The 2026 World Cup final is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium. If the pattern holds, Trump might stick around a little longer than planned.
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