President Trump welcomes Messi, Inter Miami to White House to honor champions

Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald on Mar 5, 2026

Published in Soccer

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President Donald Trump welcomed Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates to the White House on Thursday to celebrate the team’s 2025 MLS Cup title.

The Miami players, dressed up in dark suits with the club crest, entered the East Room first. Trump then arrived flanked by Messi and the team’s managing owner Jorge Mas. The team stood behind Trump and watched as he began the event with an update on the war in Iran.

He then turned his attention to the defending MLS champions, who were in town to play DC United at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday.

“We’re honoring truly talented people,” Trump said. “It’s my distinct privilege to say what no American president has ever had the chance to say before: Welcome to the White House, Lionel Messi.

“My son said, ‘Dad, do you know who’s going to be there today?’ I said, ‘No, I got a lot of things going on.’ He said, ‘Messi.’

“He’s a big fan of yours. He thinks you’re just a great person. And I think you got to meet a little while ago. So he’s a big soccer fan, but he’s a tremendous fan of yours. And a gentleman named Ronaldo. Cristiano is great. You’re great.”

Trump compared Messi to Brazilian legend Pele and said he remembered watching Pele play for the New York Cosmos in the 1970s.

In addition to praising Messi, the President mentioned Luis Suarez’s performance during the Club World Cup, Tadeo Allende’s record-breaking playoff performance, and also singled out Rodrigo De Paul.

As he introduced the players, he joked: “Do you have any bad looking players? I like the bad looking players much better.”

At one point during his remarks, Trump said to Messi: “You could have gone anywhere in the world. You could have chosen any team in the world. You chose Miami and I don’t blame you. The weather’s pretty nice.”

Mas presented Trump with a pink No. 47 jersey to commemorate his presidency. Messi then gave him a signed ball and coach Javier Mascherano was on hand as they presented Trump with an engraved watch.

Also attending the ceremony were MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House’s World Cup task force and retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

Trump then invited the team to join him in the Oval Office, describing it as the “center of the world … especially now.”