Spain may be the 2026 World Cup official winner, but the game actually had two losers, thanks to Donald Trump. During a brief appearance on the jumbotrons around New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, the crowd of Argentina and Spain fans booed the U.S. president, who is set to present the World Cup trophy itself to the winning team. The moment happened just after Jennifer Hudson performed the national anthem.
He was shown sitting in a box next to Melania Trump a few more times throughout the game.
This isn’t the first time Trump has been booed at a sporting event, and it certainly won’t be the last. Aside from UFC fights and stops on the PGA tour, most major sporting events have been hostile territory for Trump.
Trump’s personal participation in the World Cup has also been disastrous for the country’s national team. After a controversial red card decision temporarily suspended the USMNT’s star striker, Folarin Balogun, from a crucial round of 16 game against Belgium, Trump personally intervened, calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally. Balogun’s red card was suddenly overturned.
But rather than giving the U.S. a striking chance of beating Belgium, the controversial decision sparked a stressed-out vibe shift among the U.S. team, who put in perhaps their worst performance of the tournament and ended up being battered out of the round of 16, 4-1.
Fans immediately compared Trump’s intervention to his controversial appearance at Game 4 of the NBA Finals, where the New York Knicks lost the only game of their eventual 4-1 defeat of the San Antonio Spurs. (Trump was also booed there, to be fair.)
Despite the boos, Trump has something to look forward to: personally presenting the World Cup trophy to the eventual winners. This won’t be the first time he’s done it at a soccer competition, either. Last summer, Trump handed out the Club World Cup trophy to the winning team, London’s Chelsea FC. Chelsea players, including star Cole Palmer, looked confused as to why he was there: This isn’t a ceremonial decision that the players have any control over.
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Still, national teams are a bit different. Argentina’s President Javier Milei has made himself an ideological ally of the Trump administration, even speaking at several U.S. political events and at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Spain’s government has a less cozy relationship with Trump, so it’ll be interesting to see who lifts the trophy — and what the crowd has to say when Trump hands it out.
