President Trump has revealed that the champions of the Club World Cup won’t be getting the original trophy, because he’s keeping it.
English club Chelsea easily dispatched France’s Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the tournament in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday, with Trump joining the players for the trophy lift—much to their confusion.
It has since been revealed that the gong hoisted aloft by the London club’s captain, Reece James, was a replica, because the president of football’s governing body, FIFA, has let Trump use the original as an ornament in the Oval Office.
“They [FIFA] said: ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office and then I said: ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy’, and [FIFA President Gianni Infantino] said: ‘We’re never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office,’” Trump explained in a mid-game chat with the broadcaster, DAZN.
He then revealed to reporter Emily Austin that the victor, Chelsea, actually received a replica of the original for winning the tournament.
“And they actually made a new one [for Chelsea] but right now [the original] is in the Oval,” he said.
FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has been in Washington, D.C., 10 times since Donald Trump returned to office in January. He has previously argued that proximity to the president is “absolutely crucial” to the success of the 2026 World Cup, which will be partly hosted in the U.S.
It comes as FIFA last week inadvertently confirmed the cosy Infantino-Trump relationship by moving its New York employees to a new office in Trump Tower, Manhattan.
Infantino, pictured in the White House in May, has been criticized for his cosy relationship with Trump. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Trump also set about making the Club World Cup, a club soccer tournament designed to bring the world’s best teams into one premier competition, all about himself. This is despite being booed before kick-off.
Trump watched the game alongside his new best friend, Infantino, and his wife, Melania. After Chelsea stunned the European champions PSG by banging in three goals without reply, he presented the trophy to the club’s captain.
But as Reece James readied to celebrate with his teammates, Trump lurked on the stage—something the players, including star man Cole Palmer, didn’t miss.
Palmer—who scored two goals and was named the tournament’s best player—said after the game that he was “confused” by Trump’s continued presence on the platform. Chelsea’s captain also explained that Trump had ditched the protocol to stay in the spotlight.
“They told me that he was going to present the trophy and then exit the stage, and I thought that he was going to exit the stage, but he wanted to stay,” James added, according to PA Media.
