FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will attend at least one World Cup 2026 match — the final.
Infantino told Fox & Friends that he and Trump would be present during the tournament’s final match to hand out the World Cup trophy to the victors.
“We will be together with the president enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner of course,” Infantino said.
Trump has been noticeably absent from the World Cup tournament thus far, including snubbing both the U.S. Men’s National Team’s opening match with Paraguay and subsequent showdown with Australia.
Trump did call the U.S. Men’s National Team before the tournament started, telling them “I think you’ve got a really good chance of going all the way,” according to .
Trump did attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York City — the only game the New York Knicks lost — and UFC 250, which took place on the White House lawn.
During his visit to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks, Trump was showered with jeers. After the Knicks lost, fans filmed themselves burning sage outside the arena ahead of Game 4 to purge what they said was the bad energy the president had brought.
While some World Cup fans may not like it when Trump does make an appearance, it’s clear the president has found an ally in FIFA’s president, Infantino.
The Swiss-born administrator even awarded Trump the newly-created FIFA World Peace after he was denied the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.
Infantino’s Fox News appearance comes just a day after The Telegraph published a story looking at Trump’s absence at the tournament.
The paper talked with Trump’s World Cup task force chief Andrew Giuliani, who essentially said that the president hasn’t made an appearance yet because he wants to keep people guessing.
“I know he’s got a couple of international trips that he has planned as well as Independence Day, so the only thing I’ll tell you about my boss—and I’ve known him for, heck, 30 years, and he’s kind of like an uncle figure to me—he likes a good cliffhanger, right?” he told the paper.
He said Trump “likes to leave people watching, so all I can tell you is ‘keep tuned in’, and I’m excited to see what the next steps are.”
Trump raised eyebrows during the Club World Cup trophy presentation, staying on the platform with the celebrating Chelsea players after handing over the award at MetLife Stadium.
“They told me that he was going to present the trophy and then exit the stage,” Chelsea star Reece James said, according to the BBC. “I thought that he was going to exit the stage, but he wanted to stay.”
