{"id":37872,"date":"2026-07-20T01:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/37872\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T01:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:47:17","slug":"trump-presents-the-world-cup-trophy-to-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/37872\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump presents the World Cup trophy to Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump presented the World Cup<\/a> trophy to Spain, the winner of Sunday\u2019s final against Argentina. But to him, the real victor of soccer\u2019s premier tournament just might be the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it\u2019s going to remain,\u201d Trump said Friday at a FIFA reception<\/a> at Trump Tower in New York City. \u201cThis has really brought the world together.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the White House, Sunday\u2019s match was the culmination of well over a year of navigating a litany of logistical challenges alongside co-hosts Canada and Mexico for what would be the biggest World Cup in history. It had to balance the Trump administration\u2019s hard-line migration policies that barred fans from some World Cup qualifier countries<\/a> from entry into the United States.<\/p>\n

Spain won the tournament with a 1-0 victory over defending champion Argentina. <\/p>\n

After Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented them with the trophy, Trump stood alongside the team as they jumped up and down and gold confetti shot out of a cannon.<\/p>\n

Later, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump said he took pride in the country\u2019s success as a host, adding that \u201call over the world, people have come and they love our country.\u201d He described the final as a close and exciting match, praising Spain for a dominant performance.<\/p>\n

He arrived at Sunday\u2019s final with a flyover in the presidential helicopter, Marine One. Before the game even kicked off, Trump was already proposing another U.S. bid to host the tournament, sending a nudge to Infantino.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a great idea for Gianni: You have to do two countries. Announce us again next time, and then announce another country after that. It\u2019ll take out some of the anger and the shock,\u201d Trump said on Fox Sports. \u201cBased on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president declined to pick sides in the final but said it would be difficult to beat Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. Trump got a close look at the World Cup trophy when it was presented to him at his box seat during the first half. Video footage showed the president smiling and patting the gold trophy as it was held up to him. Also in the box were first lady Melania Trump and Infantino, among others.<\/p>\n

Soccer fans enjoy US culture despite warnings<\/p>\n

The White House faced warnings<\/a> from human rights groups, and the tournament confronted backlash<\/a> over high ticket prices. For months, Trump flirted with the idea of moving games out of cities<\/a> that did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and in the weeks before the tournament\u2019s start, local authorities sparred with FIFA over high transit costs<\/a>, heightening tensions even more.<\/p>\n

As the first games were preparing to begin, the administration continued to find itself under global scrutiny for its visa decisions, such as denying entry to a referee from Somalia<\/a> who had won accolades for his officiating. The pressure increased after Trump launched a war with Iran, leaving the administration to grapple with an Iranian team<\/a> whose fans and some supporting personnel were barred from the U.S,<\/a> and that ultimately was based across the border in Tijuana.<\/p>\n

But the broader story of the World Cup eventually shifted. Social media was flooded with tales of soccer fans from around the world enjoying the treats and traditions of the U.S., from beer to ranch dressing. Some fears about the Trump administration that circulated beforehand, such as the threat of immigration enforcement raids near the games, never materialized.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that we talked about beforehand was, if we\u2019re talking about what happened on the pitch, then we\u2019ve done our job,\u201d Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s even better than that. We\u2019re not just talking about only the incredible, athletic feats on the pitch, but we\u2019re talking about all these incredible, incredible cultural moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Still, Trump did create controversy with a phone call he made to Infantino earlier this month in which he asked for a review<\/a> of a controversial referee call in Team USA\u2019s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The referee gave a red card<\/a> to U.S. star forward Folarin Balogun, meaning he wouldn\u2019t be able to play in the subsequent match against Belgium.<\/p>\n

Trump says he simply asked Infantino, who has cozied up to the U.S. president and faced backlash for doing so<\/a>, to review the call. FIFA then reversed the call,<\/a> and Trump told Infantino at the FIFA reception on Friday that \u201cyou made another great decision, if you think about it,\u201d because it allowed the U.S. to keep a key player on the field even though the team lost the match to Belgium 4-1.<\/p>\n

Giuliani said the administration had a \u201cduty\u201d to ask questions and raise concerns about the officiating process, which drew scrutiny because of the use of video review and slow-motion replay to issue the red card. He noted that the Trump administration invested billions in federal funding to ensure that the World Cup was \u201cnot just a safe and secure event, not just where we welcomed the world, but an event that was filled with integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

More global sporting events coming to the US<\/p>\n

The Trump administration was under considerable pressure to pull off a successful World Cup tournament because the U.S. will soon host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

The U.S. is also largely expected to be awarded the 2031 Women\u2019s World Cup, although Giuliani said in the AP interview that part of getting those hosting duties will be \u201censuring that, in fact, women and only women will play in that 2031 Women\u2019s World Cup\u201d \u2014 an allusion to the Trump administration\u2019s fierce opposition to transgender women participating in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

The U.S. faced broader tensions with its World Cup co-hosts of Canada and Mexico. Trump announced stiff tariffs on both countries in his return to the White House, and he has chosen not to renew a trade pact among the three countries, setting up a new period of negotiations.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump threatened to tariff Canada over its wildfires, which have hurt air quality in parts of the U.S., including northern New Jersey where the World Cup final is being held. He joked on Friday that FIFA should choose the U.S. for the World Cup soon again, and \u201cthis time, we\u2019ll leave Mexico and Canada out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended the final at Trump\u2019s request, in a sign that soccer can overcome some geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n

Trump, as is generally customary for heads of state hosting the tournament, presented the trophy to the eventual winner. But he didn\u2019t tip his hand beforehand about whether he had a preferred team.<\/p>\n

Spain is a known irritant to Trump, with its reticence to meet NATO defense spending goals<\/a> and its refusal to let the U.S. launch strikes against Iran from its bases. Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei is a favorite of the Trump administration, with the U.S. president going as far as to threaten to cut aid to the country<\/a> if Milei\u2019s coalition didn\u2019t prevail in legislative elections.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attended<\/a> the game, although Milei \u2014 citing superstition<\/a> \u2014 stayed home.<\/p>\n

___ See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump presented the World Cup trophy to Spain, the winner of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1958,10353,5748,70,10496,327,5483,732,185,16,2062,1557,2188,10492,10497,769,75,6164,10431,20,10495,473,1760,697,10498,1998,6806,62,60,10494,3371,113,2061,201,10493,7078,2377,6,1601],"class_list":["post-37872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world-cup-2026","tag-andrew-giuliani","tag-ap-top-news","tag-argentina-national-soccer-team","tag-canada","tag-canada-government","tag-central-america","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-donald-trump","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-general-news","tag-gianni-infantino","tag-iran-war","tag-javier-milei","tag-king-felipe-vi","tag-latin-america","tag-lionel-messi","tag-mark-carney","tag-melania-trump","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-government","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-politics","tag-queen-letizia","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-spain-government","tag-spain-national-soccer-team","tag-sports","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-united-states-national-soccer-team","tag-washington-news","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}