The date 13 July 2024 is a historic day in the United States. As our readers most likely remember, the then-leading presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was grazed on the ear by a bullet from an assassin at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. The photograph taken right after, with President Trump pumping his fist in the air while blood is pouring down his face, with the American flag in the background, is one of the most iconic photos taken in American history.
On the one-year anniversary of the fateful event, now back in office, President Trump had another memorable picture taken of himself—this time, however, without his life being in danger, thankfully.
On 13 July 2025, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the English football club Chelsea took on the French side Paris Saint-Germain in the final of FIFA’s new 32-team, quadrennial Club World Cup. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were in attendance.
PSG was considered the heavy favourites before the game. Earlier this year, they beat Internazionale 5–0 in the UCL final, the largest margin of victory in the final in the history of the competition, claiming their first UEFA Champions League trophy. In the semi-final of the subsequent FIFA Club World Cup, they beat the most prestigious football club in the world, the Spanish Real Madrid, 4–0. They have also won the French league by a long distance in the season. Meanwhile, Chelsea finished 4th in their home competition, the English Premier League, beat a much weaker side than Real Madrid in the semis to get to the Club World Cup final, the Brazilian Fluminense, and only competed in the tertiary European club competition Conference League this season (although they did ended up winning that competition).
Despite all that, Chelsea were up 3–0 by half time, with two goals and an assist from Cole Palmer, a turn of events nobody expected in the football world. After the Super Bowl-style halftime show by Coldplay and Emmanuel Kelly, the scoreline did not change in the second half. Thus, Chelsea became the first team to lift the new FIFA Club World Cup trophy.
President Trump was expected to take part in the celebration ceremony. He, along with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, hung the medals around the players’ necks and presented them with the trophy. However, after his official duties were done, Donald Trump perhaps felt that the Chelsea players were having too much fun for him to leave, or perhaps the London Blues’ underdog victory reminded him of his 2016 election win.
So, he decided to stick around as Chelsea captain Reece James lifted the trophy, resulting in yet another iconic photo of the 45th and 47th POTUS.
While this was an endearing moment for President Trump, he will have to be wise enough not to repeat the stunt in next year’s FIFA World Cup final, also held in East Rutherford.
The new FIFA Club World Cup trophy was introduced this year, and the competition in this format was also played for the first time this year. Some prominent figures in the football world have even criticized it as an unnecessary ‘money-grab’ by FIFA.
The FIFA World Cup trophy, by contrast, is revered by over a billion football fans around the world. The current trophy has been given out since 1974, but the competition itself was first played in 1930—its prestige cannot be compared to the new FIFA Club World Cup. President Trump joining the trophy celebration there would not be taken lightly by football fans.
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