The following video was posted on Reddit:
The 10-second clip, captioned “Donald Trump stole a CWC winners medal” showed the US President holding a winners medal before placing it in his blazer and walking towards the trophy, to be presented to the captain of the winning team.
The Club World Cup, an association football competition organised by FIFA, was revamped to a quadrennial format starting from 2025, featuring 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation; 12 teams from Europe, 6 from South America, 4 from Africa, 4 from Asia, 4 from North, Central America and Caribbean, 1 from Oceania, and 1 team from the host nation. The final took place on 13 July 2025, with Chelsea beating Paris Saint Germain 3-0 for their second Club World Cup title.
The competition, and the final match in particular sparked controversy due to the perceived “Americanisation” and “politicisation” of the event. Apart from Trump’s presence at the final, the match also included a pre-match ceremony, interviews of the players during half-time and a half-time show, both rarely seen in football and associated more closely with American football, a completely different sport.
President Trump had also received further controversy for staying on stage as Chelsea players lifted the trophy, an uncommon sight. An interview with Chelsea captain Reece James revealed that Trump was originally supposed to present the trophy before exiting the stage, however he had decided to stay for the celebration.
When we looked closer into the claim that Trump had stolen the winners medal, we found a longer video that appeared to show Mr Infantino presenting Trump with a medal which was readily accepted. This was done after Trump had presented the medals to all the Chelsea players and coaching staff.
While the video shown in the original claim is authentic then, it omits context in order to present the information in a way that distorts the original meaning or intent, commonly described as malinformation.
The claim that Trump had stolen a Club World Cup winners medal is therefore false. He was given the medal by current FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
