President Donald Trump mentioned on Friday (August 22, 2025) that the draw for the 2026 World Cup will happen on Dec. 5 on the Kennedy Center in Washington.
He made the announcement with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Vice President J.D. Vance throughout an occasion in the Oval Office.
The U.S. is co-hosting the event subsequent 12 months with Canada and Mexico. The draw on the Kennedy Center will decide the World Cup’s teams, and the video games every staff performs in the opening spherical.
Mr. Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center, putting in himself as chair and changing the board of trustees with loyalists. He’s additionally hinted he’d like to see the venue renamed the Trump/Kennedy Center.
Asked if he would possibly be the one drawing staff names to decide who they may play, Mr. Trump instructed that may not be a nasty concept, and Mr. Infantino appeared to agree — although that half hasn’t but been decided.
In an uncommon transfer, Mr. Infantino additionally introduced the World Cup trophy with him to the Oval Office.
It’s a superstition practically as outdated because the World Cup itself: gamers on nationwide groups across the globe imagine that touching the trophy earlier than their staff truly wins the event on the sphere can spark unhealthy luck.
Even Mr. Infantino famous that the trophy is “for winners only,” however then he added to Mr. Trump, “And, since you are a winner, of course you can as well.”
The President did simply that, remarking, “It’s pretty heavy.”
He later referred to as the trophy “a beautiful piece of gold” and joked about preserving it and displaying it in the Oval Office, which Mr. Trump has redone in a gaudy, gold-hued decor.
