Donald Trump joins Chelsea on stage as they celebrate their Club World Cup win
Trump, who was briefly booed by some of the 81,118 crowd at the MetLife Stadium, then presented Chelsea with the trophy alongside Gianni Infantino, president of world governing body FIFA, after the game.
The first ever #FIFACWC Champions. 🌟 pic.twitter.com/aNFuudOjrG
— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) July 13, 2025
After handing the silverware to Chelsea captain Reece James, Trump was then invited to move out of the way by Infantino.
However, he remained in position as James lifted the trophy and the team began their celebrations amid fireworks and confetti.
Chelsea's victory, the culmination of FIFA's newly-expanded 32-team tournament, also earned them a jackpot in excess of £90million.
Trump earlier said he had enjoyed the occasion, telling broadcaster DAZN at half-time: 'I am having a really great time. Tremendous sport.'
In a longer recorded interview broadcast after the final whistle, the president, who revealed his favourite player of all time was Pele, added when asked about the tournament: 'It's a big thing.
'Gianni is a friend of mine, he's done such a great job with the league and with soccer – or as they would call it 'football', but I guess we call it soccer. But I'm sure that change could be made very easily.
'But it's great to watch – and this is a little bit of an upset that we're watching today, isn't it? So far. It's incredible.'
When it was suggested he could make an executive order to rename the sport, Trump said with a smile: 'I think we could do that, I think I could do that.'
The US leader was also asked if he could see a day when the United States, which will co-host the men's World Cup along with Canada and Mexico next summer, could dominate in football, and he replied: 'I can tell you we're doing very well on the other stage, on the political stage, on the final stage.
'I was just in Saudi Arabia, I was in Qatar, I was in UAE – here we have Qatar and the big presence – and then you look at NATO. All of the leaders said, 'A year ago, your country was dead and now you have the hottest country in the world'. There's a lot of truth in that.
'We were doing very badly as a country. We had an incompetent administration and now we have a hot country. It's really hot and I think the soccer is going to be very hot here too.
'It already is. It's gotten a lot of play and with the play comes the great players, and I think it will do very well.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump officials to send home 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles after immigration raids
The Trump administration is releasing 2,000 National Guard troops, half the number deployed last month in response to protests, following immigration raids in the area. 'Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,' Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement Tuesday. 'As such, the Secretary has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen (79th IBCT) from the federal protection mission.' The move comes after President Donald Trump ordered 4,000 troops to be deployed last month in the wake of protests breaking out in response to a string of ICE raids across Los Angeles. After disembarking Marine One Tuesday evening, the president didn't respond when asked why he was pulling troops from Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom called for the remaining 2,000 troops to be sent home in a statement shared to social media on Tuesday evening. 'For more than a month, @realDonaldTrump has been exploiting @TheCalGuard as his political pawns. Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state,' the governor wrote. 'End this theater and send everyone home.' After deploying the initial 2,000 National Guard troops, the president ordered the mobilization of an additional 2,000 California National Guard to be called into federal service to support ICE's efforts. At the time, Newsom blasted the move as 'purposefully inflammatory' and predicted it would 'only escalate tensions.' The state of California then sued the Trump administration over its deployment, claiming the decision has 'caused real and irreparable damage' to both Los Angeles and the state's larger sovereignty. Trump's decision marked the first time the state National Guard had been federalized by a president since 1965. The appeals court sided with the president, saying Trump "exercised his statutory authority" when he activated the troops. The decision to send troops home comes days after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced federal officers arrested more than 300 people at a marijuana facility in southern California on July 10. Days later, that figure rose to 361 after DHS said agents raided another cannabis farm in the area. At least one worker died after he was chased by federal agents during one of the farm raids, according to United Farm Workers. The move also follows a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests across seven counties in the state. The Justice Department appealed the decision on Monday.
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says he will meet Starmer in Scotland visit, expects trade talks
WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he expects to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Aberdeen, Scotland, later this month to refine a U.S.-British trade deal. A White House official said Trump plans to visit his golf properties in Scotland late this month, recreating a trip he made in 2016 during his first run for the presidency. Trump plans to visit both his Turnberry and Aberdeen golf properties on a trip expected to last from July 25-29, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Asked by reporters about the trip, Trump said he is set to meet Starmer on the trip. He and Starmer announced a deal on June 16 on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada that reaffirmed quotas and tariff rates on British automobiles and eliminated tariffs on the U.K. aerospace sector. But the issue of steel and aluminum remains unresolved. "We are going to have a meeting with him, probably in Aberdeen. And we're going to do a lot of different things, also refine the trade deal that we've made," Trump said. Trump visited both golf courses during his successful run for a first term in 2016, using the opportunity to praise Britain's "Brexit" vote to part ways with the European Union. As he toured the grounds at Turnberry then, he was accompanied by bagpipers in kilts. The Turnberry course on the west coast of Scotland has been the site of the Open Championship four times, the last one being in 2009. Trump bought it in 2014. The Republican president will make a state visit to Britain September 17-19 as the guest of King Charles at Windsor Castle. The late Queen Elizabeth had welcomed Trump to Buckingham Palace for a three-day state visit in June 2019 during his first term in office, during which he had a private lunch with the sovereign and had tea with Charles, who was then heir.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump administration dashes hopes of anti-pollution plan for JD Vance's home town
A Biden-era plan to implement a gas-powered blast furnace at a steel mill in Ohio, which would have eliminated tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment year over year and created more than a thousand jobs, has been put on hold indefinitely by the Trump administration. Experts and locals say the setback could greatly affect the health and financial state of those living around the mill. For 13 years, Donna Ballinger has been dealing with blasting noises and layers of dust from coal and heavy metals on her vehicles and house, situated a few hundred yards from the Cleveland-Cliffs-owned Middletown Works steel mill in south-west Ohio. 'I've had sinus infections near constantly. I have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],' she says. 'When they've got the big booms going, your whole house is shaking.' So when two years ago, the steel mill successfully trialed a hydrogen gas-powered blast furnace, the first time the fuel had been deployed in this fashion anywhere in the Americas, she was delighted. It cost an estimated $1.6bn, and the Biden administration, through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), coughed up $500m to help cover the cost of installing the technology. Replacing a coal-powered furnace would have eliminated 1m tons of greenhouse gases from the local environment every year, according to Cleveland-Cliffs. It would also have saved the company $450m every year through 'efficiency gains and reduced scrap dependency', and created 1,200 construction and 150 permanent jobs in the town of 50,000 residents who have struggled for decades with manufacturing losses. But last month, the Cleveland-Cliffs CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, announced the plan was on hold. He claimed the lack of development in hydrogen fuel – in part a result of the Trump administration's freezing of a host of Biden-era spending plans – and the Federal Reserve's refusal to lower interest rates – also a byproduct of Trump administration policies – had forced the company to throw out the project as initially devised. Plans were leaked in April that the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) was going to gut grant programs worth $6.3bn meant to help major manufacturing companies transition to cleaner energy resources. This month, the US Senate voted to close the 45V hydrogen clean-energy tax credit eligibility window in January 2028 – five years earlier than originally set. 'It's a setback that they are saying they are going to abandon the hydrogen part of this project, as it is the most exciting part of it,' says Hilary Lewis, steel director at Industrious Labs, an environmental organization promoting decarbonization. 'That the project is going to be changed is a big concern. In large part, we agree with Cleveland-Cliffs, in that when the government abandoned its commitments to clean hydrogen tax credits … it makes it harder for companies to plan their investments.' Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment. The move will probably upend Middletown's hopes of leading a nationwide manufacturing revolution – part of a wider goal that the vice-president and Middletown native JD Vance has claimed to support. Vance's grandfather, Jim, worked at Middletown Works, which makes steel for automobiles, appliances and other industries, and is considered by the vice-president as keeping his family financially afloat when he was a child. 'I blame Cleveland-Cliffs and the government,' says Ballinger, sitting in a car in the driveway of her home as sounds from the steel plant echoed all around. She believes Vance should have done more to keep the hydrogen project alive: 'He should be working with everyone to help it be better for us who have to live in this on a daily basis, to make it healthier for everybody to live. 'It's very upsetting because I'm more worried about everybody's health around here. It's already bad. We were hoping for something that was going to make it better.' Hydrogen has been seen as a potential cornerstone clean-energy replacement for fuel sources in trades such as aerospace, manufacturing and other heavy industries. Three liquid hydrogen plants in Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana owned by Power Plug, the largest producer in the US, are making about 40 tons a day. The Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai plans to spend $6bn on a hydrogen-integrated steel mill, also in Louisiana. But delays attributed to limited availability of clean energy to power electrolyzers, higher-than-expected production costs and market and political forces have put the rollout of clean hydrogen fuel on the back foot. Power Plug has generated billions of dollars of losses, and government support for advancing blue and green hydrogen – at the state or federal level – is essential to fueling a decarbonization transition, say industry leaders. At $7bn, the Biden-era project to support the development of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs across the US is reportedly in jeopardy, with the Department of Energy in March considering ending four of those projects located in Democratic-leaning states. Taken together, some residents say the moves could have serious health implications for those living close to fossil fuel-powered industrial plants in Middletown and beyond. 'So much so that life expectancy in the area of town that is impacted by the pollution is 10 years less than the east end of town that aren't impacted by it. A big part of that, of course, is pollution,' says Scotty Robertson, a pastor who lives several miles from Middletown Works. 'Most of the people impacted by the pollution and the implications of the [Middletown Works] clean-energy project ending are people that live paycheck to paycheck and can only be concerned by making sure they have enough money to pay their bills. There are some people talking about it, but I don't think people will feel the impact until jobs start disappearing.' Suffering losses of $483m in the first quarter of 2025, Cleveland-Cliffs has laid off thousands of workers at facilities across the region in recent months. While no cuts to jobs at Middletown Works have yet been announced, it faces some of the same infrastructural issues as those being idled elsewhere. The city of Middletown previously said that the clean-hydrogen investment would 'position Middletown Works as the most advanced, lowest [greenhouse gas]-emitting integrated iron and steel facility in the world' when it was announced in March 2024. This week, a representative of Middletown declined to respond to questions from the Guardian, including whether Vance should be doing more to help with the health and economic development of his home town. City leadership has been largely split on ways to honor Vance's political rise. Others are clear about what ending the hydrogen aspect of the project will mean for Middletown. A 2024 report by Industrious Labs, using data from the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations from 2020, found that air pollution in Middletown was responsible for up to 67 premature deaths, more than 20,000 cases of asthma symptoms and more than 6,000 school loss days annually. 'I have seen first-hand the effects of pollution caused by fossil fuels,' says Robertson, who grew up in the coalfields of southern West Virginia and is running for a seat on the Middletown city council in November. 'I think that as time goes on, you'll see more and more the implications of these policies, which are anti-local.'
