Donald Trump Booed by Crowd While Presenting Medals After Spain Wins World Cup Final
The president attended Sunday’s championship match as promised, joining FIFA officials and several world leaders in his private suite at MetLife Stadium.
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump attended the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday, July 19, and was audibly booed by fans as he walked onto the field for the medal ceremony.
- Spain defeated Argentina 1-0, with Ferran Torres scoring the game’s only goal in the 106th minute.
- The reaction follows an earlier controversy from the tournament, when Trump personally asked FIFA to review a red card given to U.S. player Folarin Balogun.
Donald Trump got a clear message from the crowd at Sunday’s World Cup final.
The president attended the championship match between Spain and Argentina on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey temporarily rebranded “New York New Jersey Stadium” for the tournament. He watched the game from a private suite before heading down to the field alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino to help present medals to the players. As he made his way across the pitch, boos rang out through the stadium, audible enough that Trump could be seen waving toward the stands as fans voiced their displeasure.
Spain came away with the win, edging Argentina 1-0 on a goal from Ferran Torres in the 106th minute, sending the match into extra time before the Spanish side sealed the championship.
Trump wasn’t alone in the suite. He was joined by First Lady Melania Trump, their son Barron, and his son Eric Trump, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and a lineup of international guests that included Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, according to Politico reporter Sophia Cai. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Andrew Giuliani also watched from the box.
Before kickoff, Trump spoke with Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft about the U.S. hosting the tournament, saying he’d initially doubted the country’s soccer appetite before changing his mind. “It turns out we are a soccer country,” he told Taft, adding that he found the entire event “beautiful to watch.”
Sunday’s reception adds to a rockier pattern that’s developed between Trump and international soccer fans throughout the tournament. Earlier in the World Cup, he placed a personal call to Infantino asking that officials revisit a red card and suspension handed to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during a round-of-32 match. The suspension was reversed, clearing Balogun to play in the round of 16 against Belgium a decision that drew accusations of political interference from fans abroad. At the time, Trump defended the move, saying he simply felt the call on the field was wrong. The U.S. lost that match to Belgium 4-1 regardless, and Belgian players were seen celebrating afterward with dance moves widely seen as a nod to Trump’s own signature gestures from his 2024 campaign trail.
This wasn’t the administration’s first brush with World Cup-related controversy, either. Trump faced criticism in July 2025 after being accused of pocketing a medal while presenting awards at the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup. Around the same time, close to 90 civil society organizations signed a letter pressing FIFA to push the administration on protecting the rights of international visitors and immigrants ahead of the tournament, citing concerns over expanded travel restrictions and immigration enforcement.
Rather than pressure Trump publicly, FIFA opted for a different approach: creating a new honor, the FIFA Peace Prize, and awarding it to him in December 2025. Infantino praised the president at the ceremony, telling him he could “always count on my support” in future peacemaking efforts.
Whether Sunday’s boos will factor into the U.S.’s broader relationship with FIFA remains to be seen, but for now, the moment has become one of the lasting images from the tournament’s final day a reminder that not every seat at the trophy ceremony gets a warm welcome.
