President Trump attends FIFA World Cup reception at Trump Tower

[3:23] gentlemen, please welcome the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump and [3:29] FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Thank you very much. Mr. President, dear friends, [6:07] colleagues, ladies, gentlemen, presidents from all over the world, dear president, [6:14] we have the world united here today. The presidents of all the countries of the [6:21] world, of course, of football or soccer in the world, but we know that this is the [6:25] most important thing in the world. So the most important people in the world are [6:30] here today. The legends of our game are here, those who made our hearts beat, who [6:38] made the hearts of billions of people in the world beat. And of course, the FIFA [6:45] Council as well. We are all here united tonight, President, to celebrate [6:52] this incredible FIFA World Cup. When we met the first time, Mr. President, in 2018, [7:02] in the summer after the award of the decision, I promised you we would make a [7:09] great World Cup. And by all means, this World Cup has exceeded all expectations. Full [7:26] stadiums, seven million people in the stadium, tens of millions in the cities, in [7:32] America, in Canada, in Mexico, billions in front of their TV. Everyone enjoying the [7:44] game with happiness, with joy, with peace. And the American dream, Mr. President, came to [7:53] reality. We united the world. We united the world in America. When I told you we will do a great [8:04] World Cup, you told me America will welcome the world. And you did welcome the world. Everyone [8:11] that came here enjoyed it. Everyone that stayed home enjoyed it as well by watching the incredible [8:18] images of these beautiful host cities of defense from all over the world. Coming [8:25] together and enjoying in peace, Mr. President, in happiness and in joy because I don't know if [8:35] you know, but the official definition of FIFA is we are FIFA is the official happiness provider [8:45] to humanity since 120 years. So we are providing joy and happiness unless the team loses, of course. [8:55] And and all this, of course, would not have been possible. And I say this because it is the truth. [9:05] You don't need people to compliment you, Mr. President, but this World Cup would not have been such an [9:13] incredible success without you. Please, your administration, every single person in the White [9:26] House, in the administration, in the cities, in the States, everywhere contributed to create this safe and [9:39] secure and joyful environment to live something that the world has never seen. This has not just been and [9:47] it's not just the greatest World Cup of all times. It is the greatest human, social and cultural event [9:56] that mankind has ever witnessed and seen. And we are all part of it. And for this, I thank you very much, [10:05] Mr. President. Thanks for having us here. There is one more game to go. The great well, two more games, the bronze [10:12] medal tomorrow and between England and France, of course, and the great final between Argentina and Spain. [10:23] One country will be the world champion. But the world has already won. America has won. FIFA has won. [10:33] And uniting the world in such a way as we did this summer, giving unforgettable experiences and memories to [10:41] millions to billions of people all over the world is something that we will take with us and cherish forever. [10:48] Thank you, Mr. President. [10:56] So, I want to thank Johnny, this guy. He came to me with this crazy idea. I said, are you crazy? We're not a soccer country. [11:06] It turned out we were a soccer country. And I think it's going to remain. But what he's done and what he thought of [11:13] with a lot of your friends that I met today, they were very much involved in the decision. But I want to thank our great FIFA [11:21] president, Johnny Infantino. There's nobody like him, actually. Very few. And the entire team at FIFA for their incredible work. [11:29] I've met so many of them. I see why you were so successful because of the commitment and devotion of the people in this room. [11:36] This beautiful room where the sound is very good because you're going to hear a great opera singer in a couple of minutes. [11:41] That's why I say, you know, Pavarotti was here. I was saying years ago he was here and he sang right in that corner. [11:48] And he said to me something I never forgot because it's luck. Sound is luck. Like talent. You're born with it. Sound is a little luck. [11:56] He said, this is the greatest space. And he came and recorded either an album or a song. And we're going to hear somebody. [12:04] You're going to hear somebody in a couple of minutes that's really good. But I did say to him, Christopher, are you as good as he's an Italian man also? [12:13] I don't know. It seems that being Italian is a big advantage in that business, right? If his name was Christopher Smith, [12:20] it wouldn't work out as well. But I said, Christopher, are you as good as Pavarotti? No, no, no. He was the maestro. [12:27] He was the greatest of all time. Who is nobody like? When you hear him, you'll understand. He's just as good. [12:33] Now, I would have said, no, no, I'm better than Pavarotti if I were him. And therefore, I'm doing this instead of that. [12:41] But you're going to hear somebody who's fantastic, really an acknowledged genius. But this has been the most successful sporting event, [12:50] maybe in the history of the world. It's been amazing. So I want to congratulate everybody in this room, [12:54] because you're very much into football. I'll say the word football. It gets a little confusing here, [12:59] because we have the great Bob Kraft. He's won six Super Bowls. Six Super Bowls. That's not... Stand up, Bob. [13:07] Will you please? And he also owns a soccer team, which is good, but hasn't been quite as good as the football. [13:19] Do you agree? Not quite. And you're okay with that. He's okay with that, actually, in this country. [13:25] Congratulations, Bob. Nice to have you. You've been my friend for a long time. [13:31] But eight years ago, all the way back in 2018, it was my honor to help secure the World Cup for North America, [13:38] and never thinking that it would turn out to be what it turned out to be. [13:42] And Johnny said this would happen. But as fate would have it, I'm president. [13:46] I said, you know, I was supposed to not be here right now. I was supposed to be president for eight years. [13:51] The polls showed it. Everyone showed it. They rigged the election. And what did I get? [13:55] I got the World Cup. I got the Olympics. And I brought them here. [14:01] I tried to take credit for 250 years, but that didn't work out as well. [14:05] I tried to say I created 250 years. That one didn't work. But I did get the Olympics. [14:10] And we got this. And I don't know. This might be bigger than the Olympics. Tell me. Is it bigger? [14:14] Much bigger. [14:15] All right. I'll take his word for it. [14:16] Much bigger. [14:17] There we go. [14:18] I'll take his word for it. [14:21] I had a feeling he was going to say that. But Gianni, I want to thank FIFA Secretary General Matthias Grafstrom, [14:30] as well as FIFA vice presidents and all of those vice presidents and council members, [14:36] along with the presidents and general secretaries of FIFA member associations, [14:40] along with some presidents of their countries. Of course, being a president of your country [14:45] at this particular time isn't really as good as being the president of one of your associations. [14:51] But you've done an amazing job. In fact, the presidents of the countries are sitting in the back row. [14:55] You believe this? They're going to be very upset with you. [14:58] But we also have many famous FIFA legends and all-star players, people that I recognize, [15:04] being somebody that knows something about sports. I have my children love soccer. [15:09] My one son, my very tall son, Barron loves soccer. He's a good soccer player. [15:15] He may, I don't know, his speed might. I'm a little kid. He's very tall. I don't know. [15:20] I said, when some guy gets by you from Spain, from Argentina, from France, Barron, what happens? [15:27] Barron, what happens from England? What happens, Barron? [15:31] He said, Dad, I'm a very good ball handler. I said, but Barron, if he's faster, what do you do about it? [15:37] Dad, he'll never get by me. I said, but when he does? And he didn't want to answer that question. [15:44] So speed, I think, is quite important in this sport. Do you agree? [15:47] Oh, yes. But he has good skills, actually. But he helped. [15:52] Johnny helped shape the game. You all helped shape the game. [15:55] And really bringing it to a level that I don't think I've ever seen before. [15:59] Melania's father, Victor, sitting right here. And he's been a wonderful father-in-law, great guy. [16:05] And he said he used to play soccer as a young man. [16:08] He didn't quite make it into the big leagues, but he's a good athlete. [16:12] Victor, stand up. Stand up. An ex-soccer player. [16:16] But we're gathered tonight. Thanks, Victor. But we're gathered tonight. [16:21] He's going to be at the game along with Melania, along with everybody. [16:24] I mean, who's not going to be at the game? If we had about 10 million more, we would sell every ticket. [16:33] This thing is sold out. I've never seen. Nobody's seen anything like it. [16:36] But we're gathered tonight in New York City as we await the final face-off on Sunday between the two amazing teams, Spain and Argentina. [16:45] I watched that pass that Messi made. I'm not knowing as much as the people in this room, but I know about sports and I know about a little bit about soccer. [16:55] But I watched Messi and he was well guarded, right? Well guarded. [16:59] And all of a sudden, he's standing on the right. Do you understand what I'm talking about? I don't know if anybody didn't. I just noticed it. [17:05] Nobody talked about it. I just noticed it. I said, he's so well guarded by a great player. [17:10] And then he moved to the right and the other player was just standing there. And he had plenty of time. He kicked it. [17:18] It was within, I would say, a quarter of an inch of being perfect. And that was the end of the game. It was brilliant. [17:24] And these great players, they seem to do that over and over again. They're just born with something extra special. [17:34] I know that Ronaldo is one of them. I got to know him over the years and he's a great guy. [17:39] You have a great player in England who I played golf with. You know that, right? [17:44] And he is Harry, who's been fantastic. I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. [17:51] What do I know about soccer? They took the league and they took their best player and then put him on defense. [17:58] Then somehow, you know, we got to be a little offensive, right? But no, I'm not going to call it. [18:06] Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual. But Harry is a great guy, actually. [18:13] But we're gathered tonight in New York City as we await the final faceoff on Sunday between these two amazing teams. [18:19] And it's going to be something, I think, really special. This has been a tournament like no other, filled with fierce competition, unforgettable moments. [18:28] You had unforgettable moments like probably the most unforgettable is when they gave that gentleman. [18:34] Is it a red card? And I was forced to call Johnny and just make a recommendation. [18:40] I said, Johnny, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let the guy in the game. No, I didn't say that. [18:44] I said, I'd like to wage a complaint. And actually, I didn't I had no idea what was going to happen. [18:53] But, you know, so much better the way it worked out because there's no controversy. [18:58] They won the game and our team had all of its players. You made another great decision. [19:03] If you think about that, no, you'll never get credit. You'll never get credit. [19:06] Think of it if he didn't allow him. And they'd say we would have won the game if we had our best players. [19:14] So Johnny made yet another of his many good decisions. [19:17] But the spirit and patriotism and the unity that's brought, I think, the whole world together. [19:22] This has really brought the world together. [19:24] The 2026 FIFA World Cup has broken almost every record imaginable. [19:29] This is the largest World Cup in history by far, by many times, actually. [19:34] Welcoming 16 additional teams. And I understand you may be making it even larger next time. [19:40] I suggested that this has been so successful that and I'm, you know, I'm really working these people hard because they really call the shot. [19:49] They tell Johnny exactly what to do. [19:51] I say what we should do is you should choose the United States of America again. [19:57] This time we'll leave Mexico and Canada out. [20:00] But then what you do is you, which I was very nice to get them in. [20:05] But what we do is you leave, you choose us, but you pick somebody else for the next one. [20:10] And that will take some of the anger, hatred and steam out of everyone. [20:15] But Johnny also had another idea. [20:17] He said we could do it. [20:18] China and the United States for next time. [20:22] We do them China, United States. [20:24] So you have a nice short flight in between games, you know. [20:27] The players would love that. [20:29] But it is the world's largest. [20:31] And it's like having, you know, I first heard this, but many Super Bowls at one time. [20:36] You know, it's like having many Super Bowls. [20:39] Bob, every stadium is packed to the rafters, the spirit. [20:42] But fans from 200 countries attended 104 games spread across 16 Northern American cities. [20:49] And I saw things happen. [20:50] My mother comes from Scotland. [20:52] My father comes from Germany. [20:54] When I saw the Scottish bagpipes and the Scottish, they were going wild. [20:59] I said, this is really different. [21:02] And, you know, a lot of countries came here not knowing what to think. [21:05] And they love the United States. [21:06] In fact, the people that came, they're going to be coming back. [21:09] Maybe permanently. [21:10] I don't know. [21:11] They love the United States. [21:12] We're doing great. [21:13] We're doing great. [21:14] It's the golden age of America. [21:16] We're doing better than we've ever done. [21:17] We have $19.2 trillion being invested. [21:21] Much more than any country has ever had. [21:23] Invested into our country. [21:25] Factories being built all across the land. [21:27] But I'm proud to report that with more than 6.5 million attendees, this has been by far the most attended tournament in history. [21:36] And that's the history of all sports. [21:38] And that's only going to go, well, maybe up. [21:41] I don't know where you're going next time. [21:43] Where are you going next time? [21:44] Are you allowed to tell me? [21:45] I'll let you know if you're going to do better. [21:47] But that's a tough number to beat. [21:48] Right? [21:49] That's why he's, you know, what he wants to do. [21:50] He's very competitive. [21:51] That's why he's going to add some more teams. [21:52] He figures by adding some more teams, maybe they can tap it. [21:55] But the total number of spectators exceeds the entire attendance of the last two World Cups combined. [22:02] And together, we pulled it off really flawlessly. [22:04] I mean, I don't want to say this because you do have two more games. [22:07] And so let's not talk about it yet. [22:10] I don't want to say how great it's been. [22:12] We've had absolute spirit, absolute. [22:15] I have to say the law enforcement, they're fantastic. [22:19] But they didn't have to work too hard because the spirit was so good. [22:23] There were no fights. [22:24] There were no anything. [22:25] So I just want to say great. [22:26] But let's save it for Sunday evening. [22:29] I think we'll hold it out for Sunday evening. [22:31] But it's going to go well by the time the final whistle sounds on Sunday. [22:36] Nearly six billion viewers will have watched this World Cup. [22:39] That's a record by many, many times over. [22:41] I have no doubt that the World Cup has won millions of new fans and a lot of new fans in this country, [22:47] which traditionally hasn't been a soccer country. [22:50] But it's got it's getting there even before this has been going up. [22:53] And this will have a big impact, I'm sure. [22:56] From the first day of my administration, 2025, we've worked closely with FIFA to make this event a resounding success. [23:05] We have great people. [23:06] Andrew, thank you very much. [23:07] Great job you did. [23:08] We really you really worked hard. [23:10] And thank you very much. [23:11] Great job. [23:12] To put our preparations into perspective and the record setting tournament has been the logistical equivalent of holding 78 NFL Super Bowls in less than two months. [23:23] 78. [23:24] We marshaled the resources and more than 50 federal departments and agencies deployed every arm of the federal law enforcement to ensure the games would be safe, secure and successful. [23:36] And they've turned out to be amazing. [23:39] The State Department expedited thousands and thousands of visas for World Cup ticket holders very quick, very, we call it fast, fast letting them in. [23:49] We call it let them in fast. [23:52] And we secured and Marco was fantastic. [23:55] Marco Rubio, fantastic. [23:56] And the job he's done, Secretary of State. [23:58] And we secured more than $1.2 billion in funding to support transit operations and security for the games. [24:05] 1.2. [24:06] And he wanted more. [24:07] I said, can we just relax for a little while, Johnny? [24:09] 1.2 billion to transport people. [24:12] Isn't that nice? [24:13] But I want to thank the White House FIFA Task Force. [24:16] They've been really fantastic. [24:18] And again, Andrew, Giuliani did a fantastic job. [24:21] Thank you very much. [24:22] Hosting guests from all over the globe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was also an incredibly special way to help kick off America 250 years of freedom. [24:33] We have tens of thousands of people from around the world that got to join us. [24:39] We had a fantastic July 4th weekend like I think we've never had before. [24:43] And it was only enhanced by having you here by I don't know if you did that on purpose. [24:48] I don't think so. [24:49] But it was it worked out fantastically. [24:51] We had an amazing crowd. [24:54] 450,000 people showed up to celebrate our country on a very rainy evening. [25:00] And because of lightning, everybody was forced to leave. [25:03] And then I said, we're going to do it anyway, even if I have to speak at 2 o'clock in the morning. [25:06] We called everybody back and 150,000 people came back. [25:10] They were on their way back to Texas and Oklahoma. [25:13] And we had 150,000 people standing in the rain late in the evening. [25:17] Somebody suggested, let's do it on a different day. [25:20] Maybe in a week or two. [25:21] I said, no, it doesn't work in a week or two. [25:23] It worked on the 250, 250th year. [25:29] From the Scotland fans who took over the streets of Boston last month, [25:33] to the Argentinian supporters who cheered on Messi. [25:37] How good is Messi? [25:39] The hat trick in Kansas City. [25:41] He had the hat trick, something very rare, I guess, in your sport. [25:44] That's pretty rare, isn't it? [25:45] To our first ally, France, winning in Philadelphia on July 4th. [25:51] What a game. [25:52] They would seem to be, I mean, it's life and sports, but they seem to be unbeatable. [25:57] And then they didn't beat Spain. [26:00] It was, they were the team that was favorite. [26:02] They were the team that was winning, I think, probably the most easily. [26:05] And then they, something happens. [26:07] It can happen in life. [26:08] It's sports. [26:09] It can happen in life too. [26:10] You're hot as a pistol and then you're not so hot. [26:12] But I wouldn't know about a thing like that. [26:15] No, it happens in life. [26:17] You're hot and then you're not. [26:18] But you have to always make a comeback, right? [26:20] You can never give up. [26:22] But it's been a true honor for Americans to share our magnificent country with the world. [26:26] And today, America, it's stronger and wealthier and hotter than ever before. [26:31] And you're a big part of it. [26:33] Once again, I want to thank Johnny and the incredible people of FIFA. [26:37] They're incredible people. [26:38] They're incredible people. [26:39] I got to know some of them during this period of time. [26:41] I'll get to know some more on Sunday. [26:43] And I want to congratulate every team that made the 2026 World Cup one of the all-time [26:50] greatest sporting events in history. [26:51] And I think beyond a sporting event, it's been, this has been not just a sporting event. [26:56] This has been far beyond a sporting event. [26:58] This has been something very, very special. [27:01] So good luck to Spain and Argentina on Sunday. [27:04] And may the best team win. [27:06] And now it's a pleasure. [27:08] It's really my pleasure to introduce a very talented man. [27:11] The man that I cannot tell. [27:13] You know, Luciano was a great friend of mine, Pavarotti. [27:15] And he was a great singer. [27:16] And I cannot tell the difference. [27:18] The only one that tells me he's not as good is Christopher. [27:21] He says, I'm not as good as him. [27:23] He was the greatest of all time, as I said. [27:26] But Christopher Macchio is a great, great talent. [27:30] A very highly respected person within the world of opera. [27:35] And you're going to hear a tremendous voice. [27:39] And again, thank you very much. [27:40] And Johnny, congratulations on probably the most successful event ever held. [27:45] Thank you.