Trump met with boos, cheers at FIFA Club World Cup final
EAST RUTHERFORD: US President Donald Trump paid homage to football great Pele after being met with boos and cheers from the crowd at the Club World Cup final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Chelsea walloped Paris St Germain 3-0 to close out the newly expanded version of the tournament, designed as a glittering curtain-raiser for the 2026 World Cup that the US will co-host with Mexico and Canada.
Trump was seated next to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino in box seats at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where fans booed him when he appeared briefly on the jumbotron during the US national anthem. He was on his feet in the same VIP suite after Chelsea completed their thrashing of Paris St Germain, pumping his fist as congratulatory music blared. Trump was met with boos from the crowd again as he posed with the match referees on the pitch during the trophy ceremony, as organizers kept the music pumping in the stadium.
He handed Chelsea their trophy and stood in the middle of the players for their team photo and celebration. 'I knew he was going to be there but I didn't know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy so I was a bit confused,' said Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer, who scored two goals during the match.
Chelsea's English defender Reece James lifts the trophy with teammates and US President Donald Trump.
Asked in a TV interview who he believed was football's 'GOAT,' Trump named Brazilian icon Pele, who helped spark interest in the sport in the US in his brief time playing for the New York Cosmos in the fledgling North American Soccer League in 1975. 'I came to watch Pele, and he was fantastic,' Trump told broadcaster DAZN. 'That's like saying Babe Ruth, but I would say Pele was so great.'
The Republican's appearance at the game also came on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt that he survived at an election rally in Pennsylvania. Trump has made no secret of his desire to use this year's club championship and next year's 2026 World Cup as symbols of the 'Golden Age of America' during his second term in the White House. Next year's World Cup, the final of which will be held at the same stadium, will coincide with the 250th anniversary of America's independence. Trump has even set up a White House task force to ensure next year's championship — hosted jointly with Canada and Mexico — goes smoothly.
'He loves it'
Trump has fostered a close relationship with Infantino, who has been a frequent visitor to the White House. The president has kept the Club World Cup trophy next to his desk in the Oval Office since the FIFA president dropped by in March. Infantino, who is no stranger to dealing with hard-nosed world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2018 World Cup, thanked Trump for his support on Saturday. He said Trump had 'embraced immediately the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup, and of course of the World Cup next year.' Infantino also joked that Trump 'certainly loves as well the trophy' — whose gold-plated curves match the gilded makeover that the president has given the Oval Office.
But Trump's fondness of football, or soccer as he would say, is also personal. The president's 19-year-old son Barron is a fan, as Infantino pointed out in a press conference at FIFA's new office in Trump Tower in New York on Saturday. Asked if Trump liked the game, Infantino replied: 'Well I think he does. In his first term as president of the United States, there was a soccer goal in the garden of the White House. 'He then explained to me that his son loved football, and that he loved the game. And of course when you are a parent, you love what your children love, so I think that he loves it.' As a boarding school student at the New York Military Academy, Trump himself also reportedly played the game for a season.
'Go home'
But in typical form, Trump has also mixed political controversy with his football fandom. Hosting Italian side Juventus in the Oval Office in June, he delivered a diatribe on transgender people in sports before asking the players: 'Could a woman make your team, fellas?' Most of the players looked bemused before Juventus general manager Damien Comolli replied: 'We have a very good women's team.' 'He's being very diplomatic,' said Trump.
Trump's hardline immigration crackdown — part of his 'America First' policy — has meanwhile sparked fears that football fans will be discouraged from coming to the United States for the 2026 World Cup. In May, Vice President JD Vance said that fans would be 'welcome to come ... but when the time is up, they will have to go home.' — Agencies
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