Trump the football fan: US president to attend FIFA club final
BEDMINSTER, United States: Donald Trump will on Sunday showcase his unexpected attachment to a sport in which “America First” remains a dream, for now. The US president is attending the final of the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup in his latest use of the beautiful game as a soft power political weapon. His appearance at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey, where Paris Saint-Germain face Chelsea, is very much a trial run for the World Cup final, which will take place in the same stadium next year. Trump has made it clear he sees both tournaments, as well as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as showpieces for what he calls the “Golden Age of America” during his second term. The billionaire Republican’s close friendship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a frequent visitor to the White House, is also a factor in his appearance. Trump has kept the Club World Cup trophy next to his desk in the Oval Office since Infantino dropped by in March. But Trump’s embrace of football, or soccer as he would say, is also personal. The president’s 19-year-old son Barron is a fan, as Infantino pointed out in a press conference at FIFA’s new office in Trump Tower in New York on Saturday. Asked if Trump liked the game, Infantino replied: “Well I think he does. In his first term as president of the United States there was a soccer goal in the garden of the White House. “He then explained to me that his son loved football, and that he loved the game.