Donald Trump is the new president of the United States – so what does that mean for the 2026 World Cup final?
Donald Trump has won the 2024 US election, with the 78-year-old president set to oversee both the 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 World Cup.
While the 2025 Club World Cup will be hosted exclusively in the US between June and July next year, games will be games played across Canada, USA and Mexico in the 2026 World Cup.
The final of football’s most prestigious tournament, however, will take place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, 2026. But does that mean Donald Trump will hand the 2026 World Cup winner the trophy? FourFourTwo explains below.
Will Donald Trump hand the 2026 World Cup winner the trophy?
As is customary, a country’s leader presents the World Cup trophy alongside the FIFA president at the time.
In 2022, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, handed Lionel Messi the World Cup trophy while also draping the Argentine in a black bisht, with Gianni Infantino stood in close proximity.
Similarly, in 2018 Vladimir Putin gave France the World Cup trophy in Russia, with Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, doing the same when Germany won the 2014 World Cup. On that occasion, Sepp Blatter stood alongside Rousseff. The former Swiss president also did the same when South African president Jacob Zuma gave Spain the 2010 trophy.
Despite the past five trophies all being handed out by each country’s respective state leader, there’s no guarantee that Donald Trump will be the person to give the World Cup trophy to the winning captain at the MetLife Stadium in 2026.
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That’s because when the USA last hosted the tournament in 1994, then-president Bill Clinton didn’t actually attend the match between Brazil and Italy. Instead, his vice president Al Gore did, who hosted the awards ceremony to give Dunga the prestigious trophy.
If Trump is to follow that precedent set by Clinton, then it’ll be JD Vance handing over the World Cup in 2026 to the winning nation’s captain. Considering the returning American president’s penchant for the limelight, though, he’ll likely be the one taking centre stage on that occasion.
