President Donald Trump on Monday expressed astonishment at the television ratings for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and confirmed that he personally intervened to help overturn the suspension of an American soccer star, allowing him to return to the field for tonight’s must-win match against Belgium.
The game has been described as a ratings bonanza for Fox Sports, and a controversial red card against American striker Folarin Balogun last week threatened to overshadow matters. That is until Trump intervened and called FIFA President Gianni Infantino, prompting FIFA to suspend the red card decision, thus allowing Balogun to compete tonight.
“I spoke with Gianni, who is highly respected, and who produced the most successful World Cup in history,” Trump said at an Oval Office event Monday morning to promote the Trump Accounts Initiative. “So yes, I requested a review by FIFA.”
He added that he watched the match and thought that “this was not even a violation, but rather there were two men running at full speed and they collided with each other,” which led to the decision to summon Infantino and request a review.
“FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate independently, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them,” Infantino said in a FIFA statement.
He added: “Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and in this regard, I received a phone call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football enthusiasts and business people from all over the world on many different issues.”
The statement continued: “During our conversation, I made clear that there is an ongoing legal process in which independent judicial bodies in FIFA participate, and that the case will be decided in a timely manner by the competent bodies.” “This is how the FIFA system works, and this is the principle I will always adhere to.”
Trump used the moment to brag about World Cup viewership ratings, which are generating huge ratings for both Fox, which owns the English-language rights, and Telemundo, which owns the Spanish-language rights.
“This is not just a success. I actually said, ‘Gianni, we have all these games, every one of them turns into a Super Bowl,'” Trump said. “It’s not our main sport, to put it mildly, and I was told last night that the numbers are four times bigger. They think 50 or 60 million people will watch the game tonight.”
Indeed, the ratings are, as Trump might say, “great.” Last week’s US match against Bosnia and Herzegovina (the match that saw the infamous red card) averaged 24.43 million viewers for Fox, according to preliminary Nielsen figures, making it the largest English-language television viewership ever for any soccer match in the United States. Telemundo and Peacock attracted an additional 9.1 million viewers for the Spanish-language telecast of the match.
Meanwhile, Telemundo’s World Cup viewership has doubled since 2022.
