Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she plans to attend Sunday’s World Cup title game after receiving an invitation from President Trump.
“I received an invitation from President Trump to go Sunday to the final of the World Cup. I made the decision, yes, to go because, well, it’s a direct invitation from the president of the United States,” she told reporters on Friday.
She added that she will be joined by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a soccer fan who has already attended at least one match.
Spain’s King Felipe VI is also expected to attend, along with Queen Letizia and their daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia, fulfilling a promise he made to the Spanish team that he would go if it reached the championship game. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will be there alongside them.
Argentine President Javier Milei is deliberately skipping the final, citing superstition, and said he would watch from home.
This will mark Ms. Sheinbaum’s first World Cup match after choosing not to attend any of the 13 games played in Mexico.
She criticized FIFA’s ticket prices as out of reach for most Mexicans, though she framed her absence mainly around wanting to spotlight ordinary fans and young players rather than as a formal boycott. She gave her ticket to June 11’s inaugural match in Mexico City to Yolett Cervantes Cuaquehua, a 21-year-old Indigenous woman and soccer fan.
FIFA has confirmed that Mr. Trump will take part in the trophy ceremony alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, but it’s unclear whether the other two North American hosts will be included.
Ms. Sheinbaum’s invitation comes as she and Mr. Trump have navigated tensions over migration, security and tariffs.
While their December encounter at the World Cup draw ceremony in the District served as their first face-to-face meeting, where Mr. Infantino presented Mr. Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize, their bilateral relationship has been a turbulent one.
Mexico has pressed Washington over the deaths of several Mexicans in U.S. immigration custody — a matter it has continued to raise through diplomatic channels — while the two countries remain in active trade negotiations, with a third round of talks set to begin in Mexico City next week.
Mr. Trump’s rapport with Mr. Carney recently tensed after the president threatened to add tariffs on Canada over the cost of wildfire smoke drifting south from fires in Ontario, causing smog in many U.S. cities.
Argentina and Spain will face off at 3 p.m. Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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