Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino were booed as they took to the field for the presentation ceremony of the World Cup final on Sunday.
Trump arrived at the stadium on Marine One, with the president’s helicopter first flying over the stadium about 45 minutes before kick-off. There was little reaction from the crowd as the aircraft flew over the stadium, with Marine One landing nearby a few minutes later. The president was seated in a glassed-in section of luxury seats on the west side of the stadium shortly before kick-off, along with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. Other dignitaries and former players sat nearby, including Spain’s king, Felipe VI, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, and Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
Trump was briefly shown on the video screens at the stadium after the US national anthem was played. There were scattered boos from some in the crowd but nothing like the hostile reception he has received at other sporting events during his presidency. However, when the US president and Infantino came on to the field for the presentation after Spain clinched victory, boos rang out around the stadium.
Trump has made several appearances at sporting events since his re-election. Last year, he attended the Super Bowl, tennis’s US Open, the Daytona 500 and golf’s Ryder Cup. This year, he has attended several golf events, college football’s national championship game and Game 3 of the NBA finals, where he was met with boos from the New York Knicks home crowd.
Trump’s appearance was the first time he has attended a match at this summer’s World Cup, which the have US co-hosted along with Canada and Mexico.
At the 2022 World Cup final, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, joined Infantino to award the trophy to Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates. Vladimir Putin awarded it to Kylian Mbappé and France after their win at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Trump is the first sitting US president to attend a World Cup final on home soil. When the US hosted the tournament in 1994, Trump’s predecessor Bill Clinton did not attend the game. The trophy was instead presented by Clinton’s vice-president, Al Gore.
Trump was front and center for the final of last summer’s Club World Cup at the same stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, presenting the trophy to champions Chelsea and drawing loud boos from the crowd.
Trump has a close relationship with Infantino, and called the Fifa president to lobby for a review of USA star Folarin Balogun’s controversial red-card suspension before their last-16 match. Fifa did reverse Balogun’s ban, but the political circus cast a pall over the US team, who exited a promising World Cup with defeat to Belgium.
