TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rodri, like anyone who has ever played football, had dreamed of this moment. The Spain captain held the World Cup in his hands, surrounded by jubilant teammates. But, before he could lift the trophy, he had to find a way to politely usher the world's most powerful man off the stage.
He didn't quite succeed. In the end, it required FIFA President Gianni Infantino to jog in front of the players to try and move Donald Trump on. Still the US president lingered next to Barcelona midfielder Pedri, bathing in the adulation he had been denied when walking on to boos with Infantino moments earlier. Trump had overstayed his welcome in similar fashion at the Club World Cup last year.
Though Sunday's final, in which Spain beat Argentina 1-0, was the first match of the tournament that Trump attended, he declared it "the most successful sporting event maybe in the history of the world" and was a constant presence even in his absence.
"Trump cast a shadow over the entire tournament, weaponizing it for domestic political purposes, regardless of whether he showed up at matches in person," Jules Boykoff, a professor in the Politics and Government Department at Pacific University in the US state of Oregon, told DW.
Trump's 'notorious' intervention
Trump administration policies denied entry to the United States for a Somali FIFA referee, forced Iran to train in Mexico and travel to games in Los Angeles and Seattle, and barred fans from around the world from attending matches. On top of all that, Boykoff said, Trump's knockout-stage phone call to FIFA "will most assuredly go down as one of the most notorious political interventions in World Cup history."
Though Trump successfully lobbied to overturn the red card suspension of star striker Folarin Balogun, the strategy backfired on the field, with the US losing its last-16 match against a fired-up Belgium 4-1. "I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy," Balogun said. "I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it was something that's so unique."
Boykoff said the sporting implications would not have been at the forefront of Trump's mind. "Intervening in the red card situation allowed him to deliver the message to his political base that he could get international bodies like FIFA to bend to his will," said Boykoff, who represented the US at the youth level as a player. "Most of Trump's actions during the World Cup should be read as efforts to influence a domestic political audience ahead of a key midterm election, not as an attempt to convince an international audience that he's some great guy."
Trump insisted that the tournament has boosted the US's international reputation. "All over the world, people have come and they love our country," he told reporters.
Was Balogun call a mistake for Trump?
The US midterm elections are set for November 3 and, with the war in Iran ongoing, Trump's approval rating is below 40%. Though a "shakedown" of a global organization such as FIFA may have an appeal with a base he's already won over, Karim Zidan told DW that the Balogun intervention was a political misstep for Trump.
"I think that, in boasting about this when the United States men's national team gave an opportunity for him to rally behind a team that seemed to be unifying Americans, he managed to find a way to taint it, and those who dislike him hated him just that little bit more," Zidan, an investigative journalist who has long covered Trump's use of sports in his politics, said.
Such unprecedented and direct political intervention in a footballing decision drew scorn and fury from most of the rest of the world — with politicians, football federations, fans and coaches all piling on to criticize. But that won't bother Trump, Boykoff said.
"Based on his actions, Trump does not appear to care much about what the rest of the world thinks of him. His anti-immigration policies stained the World Cup and undercut FIFA's slogan that 'Football Unites the World.' Trump used the tournament to further fracture the world while stoking his base's worst instincts ahead of the midterm elections," he said.
Sports-shaping as US strategy
The Balogun incident was Trump's first real foray into the tournament and came over three weeks after it had begun. Given how present he was in the buildup, that came as a surprise to some. But Zidan said the geopolitical situation had been keeping him busy, while the 250th US independence day also occupied Trump's time during the tournament.
"All he's really interested in is making this about himself or reaping any sort of personal prestige from an event," Zidan said. "So I'm not really surprised at all that he wasn't very present at standard World Cup games."
Despite his apparent lack of interest, Trump made a play for future World Cups immediately after the 2026 tournament ended. "I had a great idea for Gianni: You have to do two countries. Announce us again next time and then announce another country after that. It'll take out some of the anger and the shock," he told Fox Sports. "Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately."
The earliest the US could host the men's World Cup again is 2038, but Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028, with Trump still in power ahead of the presidential election that November. The US is hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and is likely to win the Women's World Cup for 2031.
UFC a safe sporting haven for Trump
Zidan thinks that Trump will first retreat to the safety of the mixed-martial-arts Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which he managed to include in the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
"Whenever he has shown up at a sports event that is not a UFC event, he's received resounding boos. It's not the massive warm welcome he is used to receiving at the UFC," said Zidan, whose latest book, "The Ultimate Strongmen," focuses on Trump's relationship with the UFC.
"That's why he shows up so often there, why he's hosted a UFC event at the White House. He understands that is his perfect audience and his safe space, and, no matter how poorly he's performing and no matter what he's doing in the world, no matter if there's a war going on, he will be welcomed."
Though FIFA and its president rolled out the red carpet for Trump and the 2026 World Cup made more profit than any tournament before, it is the US voters, not the executive bodies of football organizations, whom Trump must impress now. Whichever way the midterms go, it's unlikely he'll be ushered off the political stage anytime soon.
Read: FIFA to Investigate Pitch Brawl After 2026 World Cup Final
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
