Trump 'Awkwardly' Stays in Spain's World Cup Trophy Shot as SBS Host Says He 'Can Be Edited Out'

Spain won the 2026 World Cup on Sunday night, and the most discussed figure in their trophy photograph was a man who never kicked a ball.

Donald Trump planted himself on the presentation podium at MetLife Stadium after handing over the trophy following Spain's 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina, remaining in frame through the confetti cannons as the champions posed for the defining image of the tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino jogged over to coax his ally aside and was ignored, while on Australian television a hot microphone captured SBS host Claudio Fabiano delivering the line that has since travelled around the world: 'They can edit him out of that.'

A Hot Mic Heard From Sydney to Madrid

Fabiano's remark came as SBS, which has broadcast every match of the tournament in Australia, replayed the image of Trump and Infantino wedged among Spain's celebrating squad. Sporting News Australia identified the host behind the deadpan verdict, which was not intended for air and spread across social media within minutes.

The clip found an appreciative audience with users seizing on the suggestion, one writing that editing Trump out 'is the best idea I've heard yet,' while others accused the president of upstaging the champions. SBS has not commented on the broadcast.

Boos, a Refused Handshake and a Podium That Would Not Clear

The ceremony had begun frostily. Loud jeers rang around the New Jersey stadium as Trump and Infantino walked onto the pitch after the president watched the final from a luxury suite behind bulletproof glass amid one of the largest security operations ever mounted for a sporting event in the New York area.

The booing subsided during the medal presentations, and most Spanish players thanked him as they collected their medals, though Argentina defender Cristian Romero pointedly declined the handshake. Saudi sovereign wealth fund governor and Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan also joined the dignitaries on the pitch.

The trouble began after captain Rodri, named player of the tournament, received the trophy. Rather than withdrawing for the traditional lift, Trump held his ground at the front of the stage as the squad assembled around him, and television pictures showed Infantino, the FIFA president who created an inaugural Peace Prize for Trump last year, attempting without success to steer him to the side.

The final itself deserved a cleaner ending. Spain and Argentina, the reigning European and world champions entering the tournament, fought out a taut decider settled by Ferran Torres deep in extra time, after Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off in stoppage time and Lionel Messi's side finished with ten men. It was Spain's second World Cup, sixteen years after their first in Johannesburg.

The president appeared entirely satisfied with the evening. He told those around him, 'we have to do this again while I am around,' directing the remark at Infantino, an ambition complicated by the fact that the 2030 World Cup will be staged across Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

An Almost Exact Repeat of the Chelsea Trophy Scene

Football has seen this film before, on the same ground. At the Club World Cup final in July 2025, also at MetLife Stadium, Trump stayed on stage through Chelsea's trophy lift, visibly baffling the winning players, in a scene that generated days of coverage and a viral rumour that the club had digitally erased him from its photographs.

That rumour was false. A Snopes fact-check found Chelsea never edited the president out; the club simply published images taken after he had moved to the back of the stage. Similar claims are already circulating that Spain's federation has scrubbed Trump from its official celebration photos, and none has been verified, meaning Fabiano's hot-mic suggestion remains, for now, a broadcaster's quip rather than anyone's editorial policy.

The pattern is nonetheless established, and it is one Trump has shown no interest in breaking. He has attached himself closely to the first World Cup on American soil since 1994, intervening publicly during the tournament over a red card shown to US striker Folarin Balogun, and treating the final as a signature moment of his second term. Cabinet members including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attended earlier US matches, and activists had planned red-card protests for the final itself.

Spain's second world title, secured by Ferran Torres' extra-time winner against ten-man Argentina, will fill Spanish front pages for a week; the photograph of it will be argued over for longer, and the argument is about the man standing where no president was meant to be.