Get ready for Trump’s World Cup
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
The 2026 World Cup is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Before the tournament selection took place Friday in Washington D.C., FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented President Donald Trump with an inaugural Peace Prize from soccer’s global governing body. Celebrities from the worlds of sports and entertainment were also included in the programming lineup.
On today’s episode of “Post Reports” host Ava Wallace is joined by Washington Post sports journalists Thomas Floyd and Rick Maese. They break down what happened at last week’s World Cup draw and how it will shape the tournament this coming summer.
Then, why some human rights groups are raising questions about the relationship between President Trump and FIFA.
Today's episode was produced by Lucas Trevor with help from Josh Carroll. It was mixed by Sean Carter. It was edited by Thomas Lu and Reena Flores. Thanks to Sarah Laramier and Joe Tone.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I, um, what did you guys think of the trophy? What do you think of the trophy itself? The hands were so creepy to me. It's horrifying. Yeah. It's like they made a trophy and put it in the microwave for like 30 seconds on high. And then brought it out and it was like, okay, now that we have a huge, huge trophy to give. And Trump, particularly Trump likes hardware and FIFA knew that going in. It was shining gold. They need to give them something big and gold. |
| 0:23.3 | That was the main goal here. huge trophy to give. And Trump, particularly, Trump likes hardware. And FIFA knew that going in. |
| 0:20.8 | It was shining and gold. They need to give them something big and gold. That was the main goal here. |
| 0:24.7 | Those are my colleagues, sports features writer Rick Mace and editor Thomas Floyd. |
| 0:29.5 | And we're talking about this unusual trophy that was presented at the World Cup draw ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. this past Friday. |
| 0:38.1 | It wasn't a soccer trophy. It was a special prize presented to Donald Trump. |
| 0:43.2 | Because the focus of this World Cup isn't just soccer. It's also U.S. politics. |
| 0:52.2 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 0:56.1 | I'm Ava Wallace. It is Monday, December 8th. |
| 0:59.5 | Today, we are recapping last Friday's World Cup draw, |
| 1:02.9 | President Donald Trump's increasing involvement with the event, |
| 1:05.5 | and why some are concerned the tournament could be overtaken by U.S. politics. |
| 1:20.6 | Thank you. the tournament could be overtaken by U.S. politics. So, Thomas, the Kennedy Center is the nation's cultural center. It's historically been a venue for shows, performances. |
| 1:23.6 | I've seen ballets there, all types of things. |
| 1:25.6 | But last Friday, you were there for a sporting |
| 1:29.0 | event, which I don't think I've ever been to at the Kennedy Center. It was the World Cup draw |
| 1:33.0 | for our non-sports followers. Tell us what that is and how the event went. The World Cup draw has |
| 1:40.1 | become something of a mashup between Selection Sunday and the Oscars. |
| 1:45.2 | The first hour, our 20 minutes of this year's event looked a whole lot like a glitzy awards ceremony. |
| 1:53.5 | We had a musical guest, Andrea Bachele, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Lauren Hill. |
| 2:00.1 | We had a pre-taped sketch that |
| 2:02.6 | involved Matthew McConaughey and Salma Hayek. We had interviews in the audience, a monologue from |
... |
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