US President Donald Trump shared that he kept the FIFA Club World Cup trophy ahead of the tournament’s final game, which left Chelsea, the winning club, to celebrate with a replica.
Trump revealed this to a reporter
Speaking to the broadcaster DAZN before the showpiece game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 13, Trump revealed he was gifted the trophy.
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He said that FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited the Oval Office with the trophy in March and told him to keep it.
Trump described the interaction
“They said, ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office,” the president said.
“And then I said, ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy?’ He says, ‘We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one.’”
Chelsea celebrated with a replica
Trump added, “And they actually made a new one. So that was quite exciting…It’s in the Oval right now.”
This means that Chelsea, who won over European champions Paris Saint-Germain, had to celebrate their triumph with a replica trophy.
Trump also mentioned renaming the sport
In his interview, the president also said he ‘could’ write an executive order to change the sport’s name in the US from ‘soccer’ to ‘football’.
“They would call it football, but I guess we call it soccer,” Trump said.
The reporter asked him about it
The interviewer asked Trump, “What if we make an executive order that we can only say football?” to which he responded, “I think we could do that,” adding, “I think I could do that.”
Trump also caused confusion with the celebrations
Elsewhere in Chelsea’s celebrations, Trump caused a bit of confusion when he walked on the stage to hand captain Reece James the trophy, but didn’t exit it afterwards.
The captain admitted the move confused him
Following Trump’s lingering on stage during Chelsea’s celebrations, captain James told PA Media, “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.”
Players of the club also didn’t expect it
Football player Cole Palmer, who scored twice in the game, also told the outlet, “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, yes.”