President Donald Trump will attend Sunday's World Cup final between Argentina and Spain at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the White House confirmed this week, and will join FIFA President Gianni Infantino in presenting the trophy to the winning captain on the field, a break from FIFA's traditional protocol. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the appearance a fitting cap to what she described as the most secure World Cup in American history.
Trump's attendance comes after two assassination attempts against him in the past two years, including a shooting during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024 and a foiled plot at his West Palm Beach golf resort that September, for which Ryan Wesley Routh was later sentenced to life in prison. In April of this year, a gunman rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington and opened fire before being subdued, an incident that renewed scrutiny of security protocols around the president at high-profile public events.
That April incident specifically raised questions among security analysts and soccer fans about protections for World Cup attendees, including Trump himself, given the scale and semi-public nature of major tournament events. A threat assessment published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies ahead of the tournament noted that repeated assassination attempts against Trump and other senior American officials illustrate the risk determined attackers pose at large public gatherings even when security measures are in place, and the report identified the World Cup final as among the highest-profile potential targets, alongside concerns tied to Iran's participation in the tournament and broader state and cartel-linked threats.
Trump attended last year's FIFA Club World Cup final at the same MetLife Stadium, where he was joined by Melania Trump, several cabinet officials, and FIFA's Infantino, a trip that fell on the one-year anniversary of the Butler shooting. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security officials have not detailed the specific security posture planned for Sunday's final, though large-scale protective operations are standard for presidential attendance at major public events.
