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- President Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend game
- Watches PSG-Chelsea match next to Gianni Infantino
- Trump is chair of White House Task Force on World Cup
U.S. Presidentu0026nbsp;Donald Trump attended the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, as Chelsea and PSG played for the trophy in the expanded 32-team tournament in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Trump, who attended the match with first lady Melania Trump, was greeted with cheers as he arrived at the stadium – but also got a smattering of boos when he was briefly shown on the stadium’s view screen. The Trumps were joined by FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a luxury box to watch the match.
The boos grew louder postgame, however, when Trump and Infantino took the field to participate in the trophy ceremony. Trump handed the Young Player of the Tournament award to PSG’s Desire Doue, the Golden Glove Award to Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez and the Golden Ball Award to Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.
Trump and Infantino then collectively awarded the Club World Cup trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James.
Asked post-game on the DAZN broadcast to name his all-time favorite soccer player, Trump called Pele the GOAT.
“Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player named Pele to play, and he played for a team called the Cosmos,” Trump said. “He was the inspiration we had, and this place was packed. It was an earlier version of this stadium, but right here in the Meadowlands, and it was Pele.u0026nbsp;
“I don’t want to date myself, but that was a long time ago. I was a young guy, and I came to watch Pele and he was fantastic. And I would I’d say, probably I’ll go old fashioned. That’s like saying Babe Ruth, but I would say Pele was so great.”
In May, Trump appointed Andrew Giuliani as executive director of the White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup, with the goal of ensuring fans traveling to North America to watch the competition will have a seamless and safe experience.
“Together this group will help plan the biggest, safest, and most extraordinary soccer tournament in history,” Trump said at a task force meeting that included Infantino and U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, previously served in Trump’s first administration as a special assistant to the president.
Trump, who is chair of task force, also named FIFA senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro as a task force senior advisor.
The expanded 48-team tournament – to be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada – will kick off on June 11, 2026 in Mexico City, and culminate with the final on July 19 in MetLife in East Rutherford.u0026nbsp;
Speaking at the Global Game summit this week in Newark, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that the state’s preparation for both FIFA events has included the development of an operations command center near MetLife, heightened coordination with various law enforcement and government agencies. Murphy said the World Cup will generate “single-digit billions of dollars” for New Jersey.
“We think one to two million visitors will be in the region,” he said. “There is nowhere on the planet, in my humble opinion, that is more prepared for next year than we are… Welcome to New Jersey, the soccer capital of the world. Right? It wasn’t that long ago that that statement would have been, to say the least, farfetched. But today, it is undeniable.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The tournament runs from June-July in 16 cities across North America, including 11 in the U.S.
