Donald Trump makes World Cup final prediction between Argentina and Spain

United States President Donald Trump has backed Lionel Messi to lead Argentina past Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final, admitting the Argentine captain remains almost impossible to bet against.

Trump, who is expected to attend the final and present the trophy to the winners, revealed his prediction during an interview with Fox reporter Jenny Taft.

“Well, I knew you were going to ask me, so I thought about it a lot,” Trump said.

“I hate to get involved, even though politically it doesn’t matter so much. I would say that it is hard to bet against Messi.”

Trump said Messi’s perfectly weighted pass to Lautaro Martinez for Argentina’s winning goal against England reinforced his decision.

“I watched that pass. It was exactly perfect,” he said. “If you had a strike zone, it was exactly where it had to be.

“I just think it is very hard to bet against Messi. He is great.”

Trump credited his 20-year-old son, Barron, an avid football fan, with helping him understand more about the sport and its leading players.

“I get this information from my son. My son Barron is a tremendous soccer fan,” he said.

The US president also placed Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo among football’s greatest players, alongside Brazilian legend Pele, whom he watched during his spell with the New York Cosmos.

“Messi is great and Ronaldo is great. I hate to say this, but I watched Pele when he was with the Cosmos,” Trump said.

“I have always liked Ronaldo. I’ve always liked Messi. I met Messi just recently, and I have known Cristiano. They have a pretty good life—much easier than my life, actually!”

Trump hosted Messi and his Inter Miami teammates at the White House earlier this year in recognition of their 2025 Major League Soccer title.

His support for Argentina comes amid his warm relationship with the country’s president, Javier Milei, and recent tensions with Spain.

Trump launched a blistering attack on Spain at a United Nations summit earlier in July, accusing the country of failing to contribute enough to NATO.

“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay,” Trump said at the time.

“I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits. Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people.”

He later softened his position after claiming Spain had responded positively to his demands for increased payments.

“I did have issues, and I still do. But Spain, they came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today,” he said.

“They honoured a request for lots of payments, and if they didn’t, we wouldn’t have even talked to them.”

Trump could now find himself presenting the World Cup trophy to Spain despite tipping Messi and Argentina to defeat the tournament favourites.