Despite winning the FIFA Club World Cup final on Sunday (13 July), players from Chelsea Football Club (CFC) could only celebrate with a replica trophy on the podium.
So where’s the real one?
Turns out, the original trophy — which is reportedly worth close to S$300,000 — was kept in the Oval Office after US President Donald Trump was presented with the trophy.
What perhaps made things even more awkward was that President Trump ended up presenting the replica trophy to the tournament winners. He even stayed on the podium with the players, despite the FIFA President’s insistence.
Source: @WhiteHouse on X
In early March, FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented Trump with the Club World Cup trophy. Since then, the trophy, which has a 24-carat gold finish, sat in Trump’s office — even as the tournament winners celebrated their win.
Source: @gianni_infantino on Instagram
In an interview with DAZN, Trump said he was allowed to keep the approximately €200,000 (S$299,280) trophy.
“I said, ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy?‘” Trump recalled.
The FIFA President then responded:
We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one.
So after CFC beat Paris Saint-Germain Football Club on Sunday (13 July), the winners ended up lifting a replica trophy.
Additionally, the players were confused when Trump remained on stage after presenting the trophy. Clips show Mr Infantino ushering Trump to join him in exiting the stage, but the US President remained firmly planted in the centre of the stage.
Source: @BlueATLGeorgia on X
After a couple of seconds of awkwardness, Chelsea’s goalkeeper Robert Sánchez signalled his captain Reece James to lift the trophy. The players celebrated as Mr Infantino continued trying — but failed — to get President Trump off the stage.
Source: @BlueATLGeorgia on X
In later interviews, the players expressed their confusion over the situation to the press.
Several players claimed they knew Trump would be presenting the trophy, but were unaware that he would be staying on stage with them, reports CNN.
“I knew he was going to be here, but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy, so I was a bit confused,” said Cole Palmer, who was named the player of the tournament.
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Featured image adapted from @WhiteHouse on X and @gianni_infantino on Instagram.