Donald Trump attended the Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium and caused controversy as he refused to leave the stage after presenting Chelsea captain Reece James with the trophy
Donald Trump has joked about signing an executive order to get “soccer” renamed as “football” in America after he caused controversy at the Club World Cup final. Trump was in attendance at MetLife Stadium as Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to win the first edition of the revamped tournament.
And the US president conducted an interview with broadcaster DAZN where he hailed the tournament and FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “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.
“I’m not 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?”
However, when it was put to him that he could sign an executive order making that change, Trump replied: “I think we could do that. I think I could do that.”
Trump also gatecrashed Chelsea’s celebrations, refusing to leave the stage after he handed the trophy to Blues captain Reece James. Even Infantino attempted to get Trump to move out of the way, but he remained while James hoisted the trophy aloft.
READ MORE: Donald Trump tells Chelsea FIFA president is ‘never’ picking up Club World Cup trophy for them
“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 explained. “He just congratulated me and the team for lifting the trophy and told us to enjoy the moment.”
Cole Palmer, who scored a brace and assisted Joao Pedro in the final, added: “I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy. I was a bit confused, yeah.”
Trump also claimed after the game that the original Club World Cup trophy will remain at the White House, stating: “[FIFA] is doing fantastically well for [football in America], it’s a growing sport, it is a great sport.
“They 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 he [Infantino] said: ‘We’re never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office.’ And they actually made a new one, but right now [the original] is in the Oval.”
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