Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino clashed before the US president tried to crash Spain’s celebrations | 2026 World Cup

Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino were challenged as they entered the inauguration ceremony before the US president tried to bash Spain’s victory team.

Trump arrived at the stadium on Marine One, the presidential helicopter began flying over the stadium about 45 minutes before the start of the games. He sat in the glass-enclosed section of the game’s luxury seats, along with Infantino. Other dignitaries and former players have lived nearby, including the king of Spain, Felipe VI, the prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Trump was briefly shown on video screens in the stadium after the playing of the US national anthem. There were some in the crowd but it was not like the negative reception he received at other sports events during his presidency. However, when the US president and Infantino entered the stadium to be presented after Spain won, the stadium erupted in applause. A White House pool report said the noise level of the nearby crowd, which had been sitting at about 78 decibels before the inauguration, rose to 84 decibels when Trump entered the field.

Then, after Trump handed Spain the World Cup title, he tried to stand with the team on the sidelines as they celebrated before Infantino quietly ushered him off.

It was a repeat of last summer’s Club World Cup at the same stadium after Trump presented the trophy to champions Chelsea and tried to break down the celebrations to make the players happy.

Trump has made several appearances at sporting events since his reelection. Last year, he went to the Super Bowl, the US Open for tennis, the Daytona 500 and the Ryder Cup for golf. This year, he attended several golf events, the college football 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 attended this summer’s World Cup, which the US co-hosted with Canada and Mexico.

At the 2022 World Cup final, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, joined Infantino to present the trophy to Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates. Vladimir Putin gave it to Kylian Mbappé and France after they won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Trump is the first US president to attend a World Cup final at home. When America hosted the tournament in 1994, Trump’s predecessor Bill Clinton did not attend the game. This trophy was presented by Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore.

Trump has a close relationship with Infantino, and called the president of Fifa to lobby for a review of USA star Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension before their last 16 match. Fifa also overturned Balogun’s ban, but the political circus tarnished the American team, which exited the promising World Cup with a loss to Belgium.