The 2026 World Cup was hosted across North America, with US President Donald Trump in attendance for the final.
Euro 2024 winners Spain met Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the showpiece on July 19, with the former coming out on top.
Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the match to hand Spain their first World Cup since 2010.
Slavko Vincic was the referee for the 2026 final and wore a camera during the event, which captured his perspective from the day.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty ImagesDonald Trump told World Cup final referee he did a great jobAs shared by The Athletic, Vincic had a number of notable interactions on the day, including telling Messi to ‘control’ a teammate.
Meanwhile, the referee also had a brief interaction with Trump once the game was over.
Like all the players, the World Cup final officials made their way onto the podium post-match to greet Gianni Infantino and Trump.
The US President then told Vincic that he did a ‘great job’ twice while putting a medal around his neck.
Trump remained on the podium after handing out the medals, but he was moved aside when Spain wanted to lift the trophy.
Elsewhere, in the aftermath of the tournament, the aforementioned Torres was spotted wearing a ‘Make Spain Great Again’ cap during Spain’s celebrations.
The President later spoke about the World Cup winner ‘essentially’ wearing MAGA cap during the parade, saying: “He is a great player. He was wearing essentially a Make America Great Again cap, so it was a nice tribute. And I think he meant that very nicely; we appreciate it.
“We have, we’ve made America great. We’re the greatest country in the world now. I will say this, we, a year and a half ago, two years ago, this country was in deep trouble.”
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