Trump lingered onstage with the Spanish team after their 1-0 victory over Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final.
Taija PerryCook
Published July 21, 2026
Both FIFA and the Spanish men's national team posted photos of Spain's World Cup trophy celebration. Neither picture featured Trump. The right side of the photograph FIFA posted shows the edge of Trump's suit, indicating an intentional cropping out of the president. Spain did crop Trump out of a video its social media team posted showing the trophy lift.
The photo Spain posted showed no signs that Trump had been digitally edited out of the picture, as some people incorrectly claimed. Trump had already stepped away from the celebration when that photograph was taken.
Because Trump had stepped away from the team's celebration when Spain's photo was captured, it's possible he wasn't ever in frame for it. Snopes has contacted the Spanish Football Association, which owns the rights to the image, to ask whether the picture it posted was the full photograph or a cropped version to purposely omit Trump.
On July 19, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump presented the FIFA World Cup trophy to Spain after they beat Argentina 1-0 in the men's final. He lingered on the stage afterward, standing to the side before FIFA President Gianni Infantino ushered him away.
Shortly after, a rumor circulated online that the social media accounts of FIFA and the Spanish national men's soccer team both posted photos of Spain celebrating, with Trump cropped out of the frame. For example, one Instagram user wrote (archived):
U.S. President Donald Trump refused to step out of the frame for Team Spain's trophy lift after they won the World Cup so FIFA decided to crop him out of their official photo. Team Spain also cropped him out on their posts.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Here's Why w/ Kevin Ortega-Rojas (@hereswhykevin)
Some users separately claimed Spain edited Trump out of the image its social media team posted (archived, archived).
In short, it is true that both FIFA and Spain's team posted pictures of the trophy ceremony celebration without Trump in the frame, though he is slightly visible on the edge of the photo FIFA posted. However, Trump was not digitally edited out of the photo Spain posted, as some users incorrectly claimed. He had already stepped aside in that photograph. It is unclear whether the photo Spain posted was a full picture that never featured Trump or an image their social media team had cropped to remove the president. Below, we break down the two posts.
FIFA cropped Trump out of close range photo
Not long after Spain beat Argentina, FIFA posted the following picture (archived), captioned, "Champions." At first glance, Trump is not visible.
Reputable photo repository Getty Images published another photograph of the same moment, but from a different angle. That shows Trump standing to the immediate right and slightly in front of the players.
(Photo courtesy of Ian MacNicol, accessed via Getty Images.)
The right side of the picture FIFA posted does, however, show the edge of Trump's suit, indicating an intentional cropping-out of the U.S. president.
As of this writing, none of the posts on FIFA's X page shows Trump (archived).
Spain posted picture taken after Trump stepped aside
The social media accounts for Spain's team also posted a photograph of the trophy ceremony celebration (archived), though they chose a frame showing Trump having already stepped aside (this depicted a moment in time that was a few seconds after FIFA's photo was captured). There were no signs the picture Spain posted had been digitally manipulated to remove the U.S. president. It's possible they chose a photo that never featured Trump in the frame in the first place.
We reached out to the Spanish Football Association — which owns the rights to the image — seeking clarification regarding whether the photograph originally excluded Trump anyway or if the association cropped him out of it. We will update this story if we receive a response.
Fox Sports' video of the celebration shows the team jumping up and down with the trophy for almost 10 seconds before the camera cut to another angle. In that time, Infantino had gestured Trump to the side before the U.S. president eventually stepped away. The exact moment the picture Spain posted was taken occurs at 17:21, when Trump was standing just out of frame to the right.
In a video Spain's team later posted of the full celebration, they cropped Trump out of frame while he was still standing close to the players — even at the cost of cutting some players out of the frame.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@sefutbol)
Trump also wasn't featured in the 20-image Instagram carousel the team posted afterward, nor any other posts, as far as we could determine.
In sum …
Both FIFA and Spain posted images showing the Spanish team celebrating during the World Cup trophy celebration but that also excluded Trump. Spain also cropped him out of a video showing their team's trophy lift.
A separate claim that Spain "edited" Trump out of their photo is misleading, as he had already stepped aside.
We've previously addressed rumors about Trump's relationship to FIFA — and Infantino in particular — including a claim that FIFA considered moving 2026 World Cup matches outside of the U.S. due to concerns over Trump's immigration policies. We also looked into a story involving Trump similarly staying onstage to celebrate with English Premier League club Chelsea F.C. after they won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025.
Sources
FIFAWorldCup. X.Com, 19 July 2026, https://x.com/FIFAWorldCup/status/2078978672346779703?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2078978672346779703%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fembedly.forbes.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935schema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fx.com%2FFIFAWorldCup%2Fstatus%2F2078978672346779703image%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fi.embed.ly%2F1%2Fimage3Furl3Dhttps253A252F252Fpbs.twimg.com252Fmedia252FHNoEA9ZWQAApLFT.jpg253Alarge26key3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935.
New item…
'Rodri of Spain Holds the FIFA World Cup Trophy as Donald Trump Looks...' Getty Images, 20 July 2026, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rodri-of-spain-holds-the-fifa-world-cup-trophy-as-donald-news-photo/2286833486.
SEFutbol. X.Com, 19 July 2026, https://x.com/SEFutbol/status/2078975168282591727.
New item…
By Taija PerryCook
Taija PerryCook is a Seattle-based journalist who previously worked for the PNW news site Crosscut and the Jordan Times in Amman.
Source: Snopes.com
