White House Confirms Trump Will Attend World Cup Final Sunday at MetLife Stadium

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that President Trump will attend Sunday's World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

"His attendance will cap what has been the most watched, most secure, and most successful World Cup in American history," Leavitt told reporters, according to TAG24 and Daily Sabah. "This is a fitting conclusion to a tournament that showcased America's ability to host the world on the grandest stage."

FIFA President Gianni Infantino had already floated the plan back in June on Fox & Friends, but Thursday's briefing made it official. Trump will also attend a FIFA reception at Trump Tower in New York on Friday, Leavitt said. FIFA opened an office in that building last year, according to The Guardian.

Infantino confirmed to Swiss outlet Blue Sport this week that he and Trump will jointly hand the trophy to the winning captain, continuing a tradition where the host nation's leader presents it alongside FIFA's president. Past examples cited by The Guardian include Qatar's Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the 2022 final and Vladimir Putin at the 2018 final in Russia.

This will be Trump's first appearance at an actual tournament match, despite the U.S. co-hosting since June alongside Canada and Mexico. But he's been far from a bystander. Trump confirmed earlier this month that he personally called Infantino to push for a review of a red card issued to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during a group-stage match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"All I did was I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul," Trump said, according to Fox News. "I think it's a terrible... if they wouldn't allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain."

FIFA suspended the ban ahead of the Round of 16 match against Belgium. Balogun played. The U.S. lost anyway, 4-1, a result both TAG24 and Daily Sabah flagged as an embarrassing outcome given the political effort spent getting him on the field.

Critics have raised a fair question: should a sitting president be picking up the phone to lobby a sports governing body about an on-field officiating call involving his own country's team? There are legitimate concerns about mixing politics with sport, and about whether preferential access for a head of state undermines a supposedly neutral disciplinary process. Infantino runs an organization that answers to no American voter, and a direct presidential intervention into a suspension ruling is not normal in international soccer.

But there's no evidence FIFA's decision was improper on the merits. Balogun's red card was, by Trump's own account and by general soccer commentary at the time, a genuinely borderline call involving a collision between two players rather than a violent act. FIFA reviews and reverses officiating decisions regularly without presidential involvement. Trump calling Infantino doesn't prove the reversal was unearned, it just proves Trump has Infantino's ear. Whether that's appropriate is a fair debate. Whether it was corrupt is not established by anything in the record.

That relationship isn't new. Infantino awarded Trump FIFA's first-ever Peace Prize last year, months before the U.S. launched military action against Venezuela and Iran, according to TAG24 and Daily Sabah. Trump has also repeatedly taken credit for the U.S. winning co-hosting rights, a decision FIFA actually made during his first term.

The Guardian's coverage was the only one among these outlets to note that Trump drew "loud boos" from the crowd when he presented the Club World Cup trophy to Chelsea last year at the same stadium, after Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0. Fox News and TAG24 covered that same event but left out the crowd reaction, focusing instead on Chelsea captain Cole Palmer's comment that he was "a bit confused" to find Trump still on stage during the trophy celebration. Daily Sabah similarly noted Trump "failed to leave the stage" and later kept a replica of the trophy in his office.

Leavitt told reporters Thursday she didn't know which team Trump would be rooting for Sunday, adding only that "I'm sure he'll have a fun answer for you." Trump's public criticism of Spain at a NATO summit last week is relevant context, where he faulted Madrid for not doing more to help with the Iran conflict, according to TAG24 and Daily Sabah.

The final kicks off Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Trump and Infantino are set to jointly present the trophy on the field to whichever captain, Spain's or Argentina's, lifts it.