Donald Trump, the Club World Cup final, and how security protect VIPs at major sporting events

New York Times

6 hours ago

MetLife Stadium will host not only some of the world's best football players in the Club World Cup final this weekend, but also arguably the planet's most famous and polarising person.
Fresh off the announcement that FIFA, world football's governing body and the organiser of this tournament, has opened an office a few miles from the New Jersey venue inside New York City's Trump Tower, Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, has taken another step in strengthening his association with FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino by confirming his attendance at Sunday's final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
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A year out from the best men's national teams coming to the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the World Cup, Trump and his office are eager to be front and centre in a country long seen as the world's favourite sport's final frontier. The president to set to be involved with the trophy presentation on Sunday, according to people familiar with the planning who were not authorised to speak publicly.
U.S. vice-president JD Vance was at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium to watch Borussia Dortmund of Germany beat South Korean side Ulsan 1-0 in the Club World Cup last month. In Vance's home state of Ohio, U.S. Secret Service members bolstered a tiny crowd of 8,239, surveying the 26,000-seat venue and surrounding areas for any threat to a man who ranks first in the country's presidential line of succession.
'We were checked by strict security,' said Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac in the post-match press conference. 'When we left the hotel, we were given a sniff test by a dog. When we got into the stadium, someone came onto the bus with another dog. That's completely normal. It's a World Cup. They are high-level people, so I think it's normal, but it was relatively tight.'
On Sunday, security measures will be further enhanced, as security teams, stadium staff, event organisers, and the Secret Service are tasked with keeping Trump protected at the 82,500-capacity stadium in the state of New Jersey, situated approximately five miles west of Manhattan. At an open-air rally in Pennsylvania on the very same date last year, Trump was shot at and wounded in his right ear, while security personnel also have to be mindful of anything that would 'embarrass the principal'.
'I'm not going to say it's going to be the worst thing that the protection detail has worked on, but they don't like it,' says Michael Evanoff, global chief security officer of the U.S. security technology company Verkada and former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security. 'You're going into a venue, but who knows? People can throw something… The pie in the face, right? That or throwing fake blood or anything that would embarrass the principal.'
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'With a sitting president of the United States, everything is different,' adds an industry source with experience hosting political figures, royalty and major celebrities for a world-leading stadium owner and event company, kept anonymous to protect relationships. 'No one else will come with such a huge Secret Service and national military presence.'
When providing personal security to a prominent public figure at a major event such as a Club World Cup final, preparation begins well in advance of matchday.
'We appoint a security advance party, which will proceed before the event and conduct a detailed reconnaissance of the venue, liaising with venue staff and security to assess the existing security measures,' says Jordan McGrath, co-founder of VIS Protection, a private security firm with experience of working with top-end Forbes World Billionaires List members.
'You'll speak to venue staff about your plan and how they can help you and your team with entry and exits. With big crowds around, you must have contingency plans for vehicles ready outside and emergency vehicle access. It's a big operation, particularly for big sporting events.'
Ideally, private security firms, or the Secret Service in Trump's case, would be notified months in advance of the proposed public appearance, so their preparations for the event can be as thorough as possible.
'Mass gatherings present a complex and dynamic threat environment,' says Steven Rice, who worked for 27 years at the U.S. Department of State. He was deputy assistant director for intelligence and threat analysis, and also had extensive postings in China and the Middle East. 'Planning and site familiarity are key to controlling the environment — designating primary and alternate arrival/departure locations, potential attack sites, safe rooms, and evacuation plans.
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'Robust communications, counter-surveillance, and perimeter and access control are a must — large crowds mean reduced manoeuvrability, limited escape routes and elevated risk of concealment for potential attackers. Coordinated emergency response plans need to be integrated across agencies and validated before gameday.'
However, given the often impulsive nature of such ultra-high-net-worth individuals, these decisions can be made on a whim, prompting a rapid response from security agencies.
'You have to be prepared for every eventuality. I'm currently working with a client who is one of the world's wealthiest individuals,' says McGrath. 'They can be on the runway in one of their planes, and suddenly everything changes. In an instant, you're told you're going somewhere else and not getting on that plane. You have to be ready to adapt.'
In Trump's case, the Secret Service would then be in communication with emergency services, stadium personnel and private security agencies at the event to conduct the most comprehensive checks possible given the time constraints.
As MetLife Stadium is one of the nation's flagship sporting arenas (it hosted an NFL Super Bowl in 2014 and will stage the World Cup final next July), it will already have detailed practices in place that consider transportation, the stadium's layout, and Trump's position when he watches the match.
'Having had experience of working with the Secret Service, they like to have control themselves,' says Nigel Thomas, a former British Special Air Service (SAS) soldier and founder of Blue Mountain Group, a security training and advisory firm. 'They like to keep information very tight. They carry out their own risk assessment.
'They have a huge team in cyber-security and physical security. They will search the stadium with sniffer dogs for anything from drugs to explosives. They would want searches done on the security teams and a background check, so they don't leave any stone unturned.'
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Once the Secret Service has established the route and motorcade for Trump's journey to the stadium, the next requirement is to find a suitable place for him to sit, which is not always straightforward. Some private-security agencies would endeavour to secure the suites on either side of the one that their VIP will be using to act as buffers, but this is a FIFA event, so the governing body has more control. It is anticipated that Trump will sit with Infantino, senior officials from PSG and Chelsea, and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, whom the president met in Doha in May.
FIFA typically reserves a significant portion of premium suites and VIP lounges for its partners and sponsors, which means that some areas of the stadium may be set aside and not offered to regular-season suite holders. This is typical practice for major sporting events, such as the World Cup, the Olympics or leagues' all-star games, where the competition falls outside a stadium or arena's typical event offerings.
Once Trump and his immediate entourage arrive on Sunday, staff at MetLife may halt traffic around the entrance being used to ensure his motorcade can enter safely. They will then go into the stadium itself with their armed private security.
Most stadiums and arenas in the United States use metal detectors, but given the heightened security risk on this occasion with a president in attendance, the Secret Service may arrive before the event and replace the existing apparatus with their own around the stadium, according to our industry source.
'For the president, there will probably be a bullet-resistant-glass setup,' says Evanoff. 'Even though there's not supposed to be any weapons there, they're not taking any chances by not doing that. You've seen him in front of bullet-resistant glass before. It's just tough because, at the same time, protecting an individual is a science.
'The Secret Service and my old organisation at diplomatic security have refined this to a real science. And with the loss of the Hortmans, with the attack on Governor Shapiro, this concept of executive protection is at the top of everybody's mind right now. Bringing a protectee into a venue, hopefully a screened venue, to sit them in an environment where you really don't know who's in the crowd — other than everybody's been screened — is serious.'
The operation will be made even more difficult as Trump has given advance notice he will be there.
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'Public knowledge increases risk,' says Rice. 'Announced appearances give adversaries time to plan, conduct surveillance, and exploit vulnerabilities. Public figures attract crowds, complicating protective movement and increasing the chance of disruptions. Announced visits narrow planning options and heighten the threat environment. Layered defences, robust intelligence monitoring, and visible deterrence are critical.'
Then, once the VIP is in their seat, the task switches to providing the most seamless experience possible, even if the security staff are on high alert.
'While they're in, you're still thinking, 'If this vehicle breaks down, what's my backup? If that road is closed, what's my alternative?',' says Thomas. 'You're ensuring the drivers are prepared, fed, and watered. That's going on without the VIP knowing.'
Most of the time, the VIP experiences the event without any major hiccups and, as far as they are aware, everything goes smoothly.
But what happens if something does go wrong?
'These security teams provide people from backgrounds where they have experienced so many challenges, whether from working as police or military officers,' Thomas says. 'When you do the threat and risk assessment, you cover anything that could go wrong: if they were at a mass gathering, what if the stage collapsed? We will have a standard operating procedure for that, for example. You need to be prepared for it, and that takes communication with stadium security and emergency services.
'If there were to be a catastrophic event involving the whole stadium, everyone would need to know our procedures for keeping the VIP safe while a mass of people are trying to escape. It's a huge operation, and things do go wrong, so it takes experience.'
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)