Donald Trump will be celebrating a World Cup victory on July 19 in New Jersey whether or not it’s the United States that wins the ongoing tournament.
As revealed by an overjoyed FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Fox News, Trump will be on hand to present the World Cup trophy to the tournament winners after the July 19 championship at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.
‘We will be together with the president enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner, of course, together,’ a smiling Infantino told host and former CW Post soccer player Brian Kilmeade on Fox & Friends. ‘We are together all the time.’
The octogenarian’s presence at the trophy ceremony breaks from recent tradition. Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani were involved when France or Argentina won in 2018 or 2022, respectively.
Infantino has made a habit of flattering Trump. In December, after Trump’s bid for the Nobel Peace Prize fell well short, Infantino and FIFA stepped in to award him the organization’s inagural version of the ‘FIFA Peace Prize.’
‘You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you have obtained it in an incredible way,’ Infantino said while presenting Trump with the award in December. ‘You can always count, Mr President, on my support, on the support of the entire football community – or “soccer” community – to help you make peace and make the world prosper all over the world.’
Donald Trump holds the World Cup Trophy in the Oval Office in August of 2025
A smiling Infantino boasted that Trump would be with him for the World Cup trophy ceremony
White House World Cup Task Force director Andrew Giuliani has left open the possibility that Trump makes an appearance at the tournament before the championship at MetLife Stadium.
‘He likes a good cliffhanger,’ Giuliani added. ‘He likes to leave people watching.’
Trump previously appeared at one memorable FIFA trophy ceremony in 2025, when he lingered on stage as Chelsea raised the hardware after beating Paris Saint-Germain for the first Club World Cup title.
‘I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy,’ Chelsea’s Cole Palmer said later. ‘I was a bit confused, yes.’
The World Cup represents a rare bright spot for the White House communications team amid rising inflation, a tenuous ceasefire with Iran, and ongoing controversy over the Justin Department’s delays in releasing the Epstein Files.
Trump lingered on stage as Chelsea raised the hardware after beating Paris Saint-Germain for the first Club World Cup title in July of 2025 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
FIFA has projected the 2026 World Cup will boost the US GDP by $17 billion, but even if that estimate proves optimistic, fan response at the tournament has been largely positive.
Most notably, Scotland’s Tartan Army has been embraced in both Boston and Miami, where kilted fans have ingratiated themselves to local in a number of ways.
‘I met these two gorgeous girls from Boston. It was her birthday, she was having cocktails. I bought her another one and they kept saying ‘welcome to Boston, Massachusetts!’,’ Scottish fan Gail Nicholl told Reuters. ‘They loved us, we loved them … Everyone is so friendly, so nice.’
A Swiss fan from Zurich agreed: ‘Something new for me is how friendly and outgoing everyone is.’
