In March, a FIFA delegation led by President Gianni Infantino presented the Club World Cup trophy to former US President Donald Trump. Following the final match on 13/7, Trump recounted on DAZN, "They said, 'Can you keep this trophy for a while?' We placed it in the Oval Office, and later I asked, 'When will you take the trophy back?' Infantino replied, 'We will never take it back. You can keep it forever.' And they actually made a new trophy (for Chelsea), but the original is in the Oval Office".
FIFA has not commented on Trump's statement.
Typically, the winning team receives the original trophy during the coronation and victory celebration. Afterward, the organizing committee presents a replica and retrieves the original.
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Former President Trump (right) surprised Chelsea players by joining them to lift the Cup after the Club World Cup final on 13/7. Photo: Reuters |
Former President Trump (right) surprised Chelsea players by joining them to lift the Cup after the Club World Cup final on 13/7. Photo: Reuters
Chelsea won the Club World Cup after defeating PSG 3-0 in the final. During the awards ceremony, Infantino also presented a gold medal to Trump, which the former president pocketed.
On X (formerly Twitter), many fans joked that the medal given to Trump originally belonged to Noni Madueke, who played 5 games for Chelsea in the Club World Cup before returning to England to prepare to join Arsenal and missed the final.
After presenting the trophy to Chelsea, Trump remained to celebrate with the team instead of stepping aside like most other officials. This confused the players. Infantino tried to pull him away, but to no avail.
As Chelsea captain Reece James prepared to lift the trophy, teammate Cole Palmer said, "No, wait," then turned to see if Trump would withdraw. James then asked, "Can I lift the trophy?" and the former president replied, "Oh, we can," before the ceremony commenced.
"I knew Trump would be there, but I didn't know he would be standing next to us when we lifted the trophy, so it was a bit confusing," Palmer said.
The 2025 Club World Cup was the first club-level world championship to be held under the new format. Instead of inviting only continental champions as before, FIFA increased the number of teams to 32, dividing them into 8 groups similar to the national team World Cup. According to FIFA, the tournament attracted over 2.5 million spectators and generated over 2 billion USD in revenue. The winning team received approximately 125 million USD.
"FIFA is doing a great job for soccer in the US. It's a wonderful sport and is growing in the US," Trump said.
Thanh Quy (via DAZN)
