US President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will both attend the World Cup final, though the mayor’s spokesman confirmed the politically opposed pair have no plans to meet separately. The two were seen together at last month’s NBA finals, where Trump, watching from a “bulletproof luxury box” at Madison Square Garden, was booed by New York Knicks fans, and the unprecedented security around the president forced the cancellation of an outdoor watch party. Mamdani, by contrast, watched from the very top row of the stands like an ordinary fan.
A month later they will be seen again, at the bigger stage of the World Cup final, where defending champions Argentina face Euro champions Spain. FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed last month that Trump himself would hand the trophy to the champions, saying: “We will be with the president, enjoy the final and jointly hand the trophy to the winners. We are always together.” But Trump’s closeness to the FIFA chief sparked controversy earlier in the tournament, when Trump personally called Infantino to have US forward Folarin Balogun’s suspension reconsidered; FIFA lifted it, letting Balogun play against Belgium, though the US lost the match. Because of the presence of world leaders like Trump and Spain’s prime minister, the final has been designated a “Level One Special Event” by federal authorities, meaning extensive federal security, including airspace control, special intelligence teams and explosive-detection dogs.
While Trump has not yet been seen in the stands this World Cup, Mamdani was at the very first match in New Jersey. A self-described die-hard Arsenal supporter and “football fanatic,” the mayor used his politics to bring the World Cup to ordinary people, hosting a football-and-weather video show called “The Morning Pitch,” keeping parks open at night for watch parties, and getting the City Corporation to bring out special $50 jerseys that sold out instantly; he also persuaded FIFA to arrange 1,000 tickets at $50 for ordinary people. He was seen watching matches from a South Bronx Mexican restaurant, immigrant shelters and even with inmates at Rikers Island jail.
Whom each backs in the final remains a mystery. Asked whether Trump was now backing Argentina after recently criticising Spain, White House press secretary Leavitt told US media she did not know. Trump, who recently attended a FIFA event in New York, praised Lionel Messi’s performance against England and had a brief word with the president of Argentina’s football association, greeting him and asking about Sunday’s match: “Are you ready to repeat history?” Mamdani’s favoured team, Morocco, had gone out earlier; asked for a final prediction, Mamdani joked that whichever side he had backed had lost, so whichever team he named now seemed likely to lose. After the controversial refereeing in Argentina’s match against Egypt, he had said “it was a robbery.”
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