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Apart from being a showdown between soccer’s elite, the FIFA Club World Cup also witnessed the crowd adding the extra sparkle to an already eclectic atmosphere. While the pitch hosted fierce competition, the 82,500-seated stadium also witnessed a performance from Robbie Williams and a musical medley featuring J Balvin, Doja Cat, Tems and Chris Martin from Coldplay, along with attendance of US President Donald Trump and his spouse, the American First Lady Melania Trump.
President Donald Trump was present at the MetLife Stadium, in an interview with DAZN at the venue he got nostalgic and named late Brazilian football legend Pele as his greatest player of all time, rather than naming modern-day football icons Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. “Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player called Pele to play and he played for a team called the Cosmos. And Steve Ross, a friend of mine, Warner Communications, he was the inspiration behind. And this place was packed – it was an earlier version of this stadium, and it was Pele, I don’t want to date myself but that was a long time ago and I was a young guy so I came to watch Pele and he was fantastic. So probably I’ll go old-fashioned – that’s like saying Babe Ruth – and say Pele was so great.” recalled Trump.
Trump attended the trophy presentation with players after the match
Post the match, the US president joined the players at the trophy presentation, he gave the Chelsea players their winner’s medal and the Club World Cup trophy. President Trump also gave PSG their runners-up medals. After the game, Mr. Trump also presented Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez with the best goalkeeper award, Cole Palmer of Chelsea with the golden ball trophy for the best player of the tournament, and PSG player Desire Doue with the silver ball trophy for the second-best player of the tournament.
Trump drew from personal nostalgia to make Pele his choice. Pele remains as one of the most revered names in football history. He won three FIFA World Cups (1958, 1962, and 1970), a feat yet to be matched by any other player. Pele passed away in December 2022 at the age of 82.
