US President Donald Trump is not expected to attend the United States national team's opening match at the 2026 World Cup, The Athletic reported. The Americans will face Paraguay in Los Angeles overnight Friday into Saturday at 4 a.m.
Four different sources familiar with the details acknowledged this to The Athletic, and assuming that is the case, Trump will depart from a practice established in recent tournaments. For example, the emir of Qatar attended Qatar's opening match in 2022, as did Vladimir Putin at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and then-Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2014.
The administration will be represented at the event by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, alongside Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. According to a State Department statement, Rubio is expected to meet Paraguayan President Santiago Peña to promote the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Attended many sporting events
Since returning to the White House, Trump has attended a series of sporting events. The most recent was just this week, when he went to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. The president was booed by the crowd at the Garden, and his arrival prompted a series of road closures that made getting to the arena a complicated task.
During his current term, Trump has also attended the Super Bowl, UFC events, the Daytona 500, the US Open tennis final and, of course, the Club World Cup final last summer, which was held in the United States.
