Donald Trump refused to leave the stage after presenting Spain with the World Cup as the president forced his way into the team’s winning photo.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino tried to usher Trump away from the team after the pair handed the trophy to Spanish captain Rodri.
However, after Infantino left the stage and Rodri asked him to move away after Spain’s World Cup victory against Argentina on Sunday, Trump walked to the other side of the stage to stand alongside the Spanish players.
Infantino then ran over to the president, but Trump declined to leave and stood applauding while the Spanish team lifted the trophy beside him.
It’s not the first time Trump has crashed a winning team’s celebration. Last year, he remained on stage while Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup trophy.
On X, one user wrote: “Trump just refusing to leave when they’re lifting the trophy. Infantino desperately trying to get him to move. Circus.”
Another added: “No surprise Trump didn’t want to leave the stage. Love how Rodri trying to shoo him off. Even Infantino couldn’t get him off.”
A third posted a clip of the incident and wrote: “Yo, is the thing about Trump real??? He wanted to show up right in the middle of the photo and Rodri kicked him out.”
“It is the graphic definition of egocentrism,” another user wrote in response.
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Trump and Infantino were earlier booed as they entered the pitch. The pair had watched the game from a secured area behind protective glass in the stands alongside Trump administration officials and other figures.
During the presentation, Trump handed medals to the officials and players.
Spain triumphed 1-0 after extra-time thanks to Ferran Torres’ 106th minute goal deep into a dismal match in New Jersey, burying Nico Williams’ knock-down.
Argentina, which went down to 10 men thanks to Enzo Fernandez’s red card, went down in flames. Leandro Paredes received a red card at full-time after grabbing Eric Garcia’s throat. There were reports of punches being thrown.
Prior to the game, Trump had said he was rooting for Argentina because “it’s hard to bet against Messi.”
Asked when he would like to see the World Cup return to the U.S., Trump said he had “an idea” for Infantino.
“He got it all started, and I brilliantly said: ‘Well, we’ll do it, but you could have a lot of empty stadiums!’ Didn’t work out that way, I think they were 99.9 per cent full, I think they were overflowing actually,” said the president.
“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 added. “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. You hear that, Gianni?”
