In a surprising slip-up, U.S. President Donald Trump confused the FIFA Club World Cup with the FIFA World Cup during a press conference. On Friday, as Trump announced a task force for the World Cup scheduled in the United States next year, he stood alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and also mentioned the upcoming inaugural 32-team Club World Cup.
Embarrassingly, the 78 year old seemed to conflate the two competitions after hearing Infantino describe the design of the Club World Cup Trophy. “I thought you should see this trophy as it’s the biggest sporting event in the world and we have it here,” Trump remarked.

“We appreciate being selected and you’re doing a terrific job.”

Clearly mixing up the Club World Cup with the FIFA World Cup, whose trophy was present, Trump did not grasp that they were separate events. The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 marks the debut of the expanded format bringing together 32 teams from six FIFA confederations in the USA.

Nevertheless, Trump did reference the Club World Cup specifically, stating: “This summer, we’ll also host the FIFA Club World Cup, bringing 11 cities and 12 stadiums together to welcome the best players and teams in the world,” reports the Mirror US.

In an unexpected turn, the United States is gearing up to co-host the FIFA World Cup next summer alongside Canada and Mexico despite President Trump’s trade war threats against these nations. The grand finale is set to take place in New York City.
As part of the preparations for bringing the prestigious international tournament back to US soil, Trump has signed an executive order creating a White House Task Force dedicated to the event.

We’re going to be establishing a very important task force and that’s on the FIFA World Cup of 2026, which as you know is a big event. It’s going to be the biggest event, I think,” Trump announced to journalists, then gestured towards FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “Everybody knows this man to my right, he’s sort of the king of soccer, I guess.”

He continued, promising a warm welcome: “He was the one that was able to give it to us and we’re going to do a fantastic job in making you at home.”

The World Cup, which is projected to be held across 16 cities within the three North American nations, is anticipated to generate over $40 billion ( £31billion) in economic activity and create upwards of 200,000 jobs in the lead-up to the competition.

Trump remarked on the event’s scale: “It’s like three Super Bowls a day for a month,” he said. “That’s a lot.”