Trump Attends World Cup Final Amid Iran Tensions, Discusses Future Hosting

President Donald Trump took in his first and only match of the World Cup after arriving at Sunday’s final to watch Argentina and Spain battle it out for the trophy.

The president briefly appeared on MetLife Stadium’s scoreboard screen, where he was seen standing in a secured area behind protective glass with FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino and first lady Melania Trump. There was no discernible reaction from the crowd, according to White House pool reporters.

A staffer held out the FIFA trophy for the president to inspect, which Trump patted before it was whisked away. He watched the remainder of the match from the box with Infantino as well as the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

His youngest son, Barron, was also in attendance, along with other Trump family members including his son Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, and daughter Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos.

Trump said he would bring up the idea of hosting the championship again during a Friday press conference with Infantino. Hosting rights for the next two World Cups have already been decided. Trump and Infantino attended Sunday’s match together, and their friendship has added another political layer to the global tournament.

“It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain,” Trump said Friday during an event at Trump Tower in New York. “This has really brought the world together.”

Trump’s helicopter completed a brief flyover, which went largely unnoticed by the crowd, according to reporters in the stadium. Marine One then touched down outside the arena.

He also spoke to reporters on the Fox Sports pregame show ahead of Sunday’s game.

Trump is set to present the trophy to the winning team after the game. He isn’t outright backing Argentina, but he told Fox reporters earlier in the day: “It’s hard to bet against [Lionel] Messi.”

“I thought about it a lot. I knew that was a question. I hate to get involved, even though politically, it doesn't matter so much. The head of Argentina is a friend of mine, he’s done a terrific job. But I would say that it's hard to bet against Messi,” Trump told Fox’s Jenny Taft. “I won't pick sides. I just think it’s very hard to bet against Messi. He's great.”

At the game, his attention turned back to Washington matters momentarily. Shortly after arriving at the stadium, the posted twice on Truth Social, slamming former special counsel Jack Smith and a call from Democrats to expand the Supreme Court.

His attendance came amid a reignition of his administration’s war with Iran, with the two countries trading strikes over the weekend and news breaking a day earlier that two U.S. servicemembers were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan on Friday.

A third service member was killed Saturday after the controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone, military officials announced Sunday.

He described his idea for helping FIFA avoid controversy by allowing the U.S. to host again in the near future, adding: “I had a great idea for Gianni.”

“I said: ‘You have to do two countries. So announce us for next time, and then announce another country after that and it’ll take out some of the anger and the shock!’ Now I think it’s a great idea,” Trump said. “Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately. I said, to take out the shock, you could announce another country for the next one... but we have to do this again.”

The president sparked anger among football (soccer) fans after he called on Infantino to overturn a referee’s red card against a player on the U.S. team before their elimination earlier this month.

That incident put a sour note over what has generally been a successful effort by the U.S. to host the World Cup, which played out in more than a dozen stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico this year. Roughly 10 million people were projected to travel to the three countries to witness the games.

The next FIFA World Cup tournament will be primarily hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, and the 2034 event will be held in Saudi Arabia.

The earliest the U.S. could conceivably host the next World Cup would be 2038, or nine years after Trump leaves office.