NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will be on hand to present the World Cup final trophy on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Tuesday.
The global soccer boss has fostered an increasingly chummy relationship with the U.S. president and in December awarded him the inaugural edition of his invented FIFA Peace Prize, as Trump sought out sport’s mega-watt spotlight.
“We will be together with the president enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner, of course, together,” Infantino said on the “Fox and Friends” television programme.
FIFA said it had no comment beyond Infantino’s televised remarks.
Trump was met with boos and cheers when he handed the trophy to Club World Cup winners Chelsea last year and stood in the middle of the team during their trophy lift, to the confusion of some players, in the same East Rutherford, New Jersey, stadium.
He has since attended the U.S. Open men’s tennis final, the Ryder Cup golf and the NBA Finals in the greater New York metropolitan region that he once called home.
The World Cup is underway across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with New York New Jersey set to host the final among its eight matches.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Rohith Nair; editing by Clare Fallon)
