FULL: President Trump speaks at FIFA World Cup Reception

And I won't forget the men who gave that fight to me And I gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA From the banks of Minnesota To the hills of Tennessee Across the plains of Texas From sea to shining sea From Detroit down to Houston And New York City Where there's pride in every American heart And it's time we stand and say We stand over her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA Next to you and defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA Thank you, thank you very much Dear Mr. President Dear friends, colleagues, ladies, gentlemen Presidents from all over the world Dear President, we have the world united here today The presidents of all the countries of the world Of course of football or soccer in the world But we know that this is the most important thing in the world So the most important people in the world are here today The legends of our game are here Those who made our hearts beat Who made the hearts of billions of people in the world beat And of course the FIFA Council as well We are all here united tonight, President To celebrate this incredible FIFA World Cup When we met the first time, Mr. President, in 2018 In the summer after the award of the decision I promised you we would make a great World Cup And by all means this World Cup has exceeded all expectations Full stadiums, 7 million people in the stadium Tens of millions in the cities, in America, in Canada, in Mexico Billions in front of their TV Everyone enjoying the game with happiness, with joy, with peace And the American dream, Mr. President, came to reality We united the world We united the world in America When I told you we would do a great World Cup You told me America would welcome the world And you did welcome the world Everyone that came here enjoyed it Everyone that stayed home enjoyed it as well By watching the incredible images of these beautiful host cities Of the fans from all over the world coming together And enjoying in peace, Mr. President, in happiness And in joy because I don't know if you know But the official definition of FIFA is FIFA is the official happiness provider to humanity Since 120 years So we are providing joy and happiness Unless the team loses, of course And all this, of course, would not have been possible And I say this because it is the truth You don't need people to compliment you, Mr. President But this World Cup would not have been such an incredible success without you Please, your administration Every single person in the White House In the administration In the cities, in the states Everywhere contributed to create this safe and secure and joyful environment To live something that the world has never seen This has not just been and is not just the greatest World Cup of all times It is the greatest human, social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed and seen And we are all part of it And for this, I thank you very much, Mr. President Thanks for having us here There is one more game to go Well, two more games The bronze medal tomorrow And between England and France, of course And the great final between Argentina and Spain One country will be the world champion But the world has already won America has won FIFA has won And uniting the world in such a way as we did this summer Giving unforgettable experiences and memories to millions, to billions of people all over the world Is something that we will take with us and cherish forever Thank you, Mr. President So, I want to thank Johnny, this guy He came to me with this crazy idea I said, are you crazy? We're not a soccer country It turned out we were a soccer country And I think it's going to remain But what he's done and what he thought of With a lot of your friends that I met today They were very much involved in the decision But I want to thank our great FIFA president, Johnny Infantino There's nobody like him, actually, very few And the entire team at FIFA for their incredible work I've met so many of them I see why you were so successful Because of the commitment and devotion of the people in this room This beautiful room where the sound is very good Because you're going to hear a great opera singer in a couple of minutes That's why I say, you know, Pavarotti was here I was saying, years ago he was here And he sang right in that corner And he said to me something I never forgot Because it's luck, sound is luck Like talent, you're born with it Sound is a little luck He said, this is the greatest space And he came and recorded either an album or a song And we're going to hear somebody You're going to hear somebody in a couple of minutes that's really good But I did say to him, Christopher, are you as good as... He's an Italian man also I don't know, it seems that being Italian is a big advantage in that business, right? If his name was Christopher Smith, it wouldn't work out as well But I said, Christopher, are you as good as Pavarotti? No, no, no He was the maestro He was the greatest of all time There was nobody like him When you hear him, you'll understand He's just as good Now, I would have said, no, no, I'm better than Pavarotti if I were him And therefore, I'm doing this instead of that But you're going to hear somebody who's fantastic Really an acknowledged genius But this has been the most successful sporting event maybe in the history of the world It's been amazing So I want to congratulate everybody in this room Because you're very much into football I'll say the word football It gets a little confusing here because we have the great Bob Craft He's won six Super Bowls Six Super Bowls Stand up, Bob, will you please? And he also owns a soccer team, which is good But it hasn't been quite as good as the football Do you agree? Not quite And you're okay with that He's okay with that, actually, in this country Congratulations, Bob Nice to have you You've been my friend for a long time But eight years ago, all the way back in 2018 It was my honor to help secure the World Cup for North America And never thinking that it would turn out to be what it turned out to be Johnny said this would happen But as fate would have it, I'm president I said, you know, I was supposed to not be here right now I was supposed to be president for eight years The polls showed it, everyone showed it They rigged the election And what did I get? I got the World Cup I got the Olympics And I brought them here I tried to take credit for 250 years But that didn't work out as well I tried to say I created 250 years That one didn't work But I did get the Olympics And we got this And I don't know, this might be bigger than the Olympics Tell me, is it bigger? Much bigger All right, I'll take his word for it Much bigger I'll take his word for it I had a feeling he was going to say that But, Gianni, I want to thank FIFA Secretary General Matthias Grafstrom As well as FIFA vice presidents And all of those vice presidents And council members Along with the presidents and general secretaries Of FIFA member associations Along with some presidents of their countries Of course, being a president of your country At this particular time Isn't really as good as being the president Of one of your associations But you've done an amazing job In fact, the presidents of the countries Are sitting in the back row You believe this? They're going to be very upset with you But we also have many famous FIFA legends And all-star players People that I recognize Being somebody that knows something about sports I have my children love soccer My one son, my very tall son Baron loves soccer He's a good soccer player He may, I don't know, his speed might I have a little kid, he's very tall I don't know, I said When some guy gets by you from Spain From Argentina, from France Baron, what happens? From England? What happens, Baron? I said, Dad, I'm a very good ball handler I said, but Baron If he's faster, what do you do about it? Dad, he'll never get by me I said, but when he does And he didn't want to answer that question So speed, I think, is quite important in this sport Do you agree? But he has good skills, actually But he helped Johnny helped shape the game You all helped shape the game And really bringing it to a level that I don't think I've ever seen before Melania's father Victor's sitting right here And he's been a wonderful father-in-law Great guy And he said he used to play soccer as a young man He didn't quite make it into the big leagues But he's a good athlete Victor, stand up Stand up An ex-soccer player But we're gathered tonight Thanks, Victor But we're gathered tonight He's going to be at the game Along with Melania Along with everybody I mean, who's not going to be at the game? If we had about 10 million more We would sell every ticket This thing is sold out I've never seen Nobody's seen anything like it But we're gathered tonight in New York City As we await the final face-off on Sunday Between the amazing Two amazing teams Spain and Argentina I watched that pass that Messi made And not knowing as much as the people in this room But I know about sports And I know a little bit about soccer But I watched Messi And he was well-guarded Right? Well-guarded And all of a sudden He's standing on the right Do you understand what I'm talking about? I don't know if anybody I didn't I just noticed it Nobody talked about it I just noticed it I said He's so well-guarded By a great player And then He moved to the right And the other player was just standing there And he had plenty of time He kicked it It was within I would say A quarter of an inch of being perfect And that was the end of the game It was brilliant And these great players They seem to do that Over and over again They're just born with something extra special I know that Ronaldo is one of them I got to know him over the years And he's a great guy You have a great player in England Who I played golf with You know that, right? And he is Harry Who's been fantastic I think they perhaps made a mistake When they made him a defensive player What do I know about soccer? They took the league And they took their best player And they put him on defense Then somehow You know We got to be a little offensive, right? But no, I'm not going to call it Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual But Harry is a great guy, actually But we're gathered tonight in New York City As we await the final face-off on Sunday Between these two amazing teams And it's going to be something I think really special This has been a tournament like no other Filled with fierce competition Unforgettable moments Yet unforgettable moments Like probably the most unforgettable Is when they gave that gentleman Is it a red card? And I was forced to call Johnny And just make a recommendation I said, Johnny, I'd like to make a recommendation Let the guy in to give... No, I didn't say that I said, I'd like to Wage a complaint And actually I had no idea what was going to happen But you know, it's so much better The way it worked out Because there's no controversy They won the game And our team had all of its players You made another great decision If you think about it I know you'll never get credit You'll never get credit But think of it If he didn't allow him And they'd say We would have won the game If we had our best players So Johnny made yet another Of his many good decisions But the spirit and patriotism And the unity That's brought, I think, the whole world together This has really brought the world together The 2026 FIFA World Cup Has broken almost every record imaginable This is the largest World Cup in history By far By many times, actually Welcoming 16 additional teams And I understand you may be Making it even larger next time I suggested that This has been so successful That, and I'm You know, I'm really working these people hard Because they really call the shot They tell Johnny exactly what to do I say, what we should do Is you should choose The United States of America again This time we'll leave Mexico And Canada out But then what you do is you Which I was very nice to get them in But what we do is you leave You choose us, but you pick somebody else For the next one And that will take some of the anger, hatred And steam out of everyone But Johnny also had another idea He said we could do it China and the United States For next time We do them China, United States So you have a nice short flight in between games The players would love that But it is the world's largest And it's like having, you know I first heard this, but many Super Bowls At one time It's like having many Super Bowls Bob, every stadium is packed To the rafters, the spirit But fans from 200 countries Attended 104 games Spread across 16 northern American cities And I saw things happen My mother comes from Scotland My father comes from Germany When I saw the Scottish bagpipes They were going wild I said this is really different And you know a lot of countries came Not knowing what to think And they love the United States In fact the people that came They're going to be coming back Maybe permanently, I don't know They love the United States We're doing great It's a golden age of America We're doing better than we've ever done We have $19.2 trillion being invested Much more than any country has ever had Invested into our country Factories being built all across the land But I'm proud to report That with more than 6.5 million attendees This has been by far The most attended tournament in history And that's the history of all sports And that's only going to go Well maybe up, I don't know where you're going next time Where are you going next time, you're allowed to tell me I'll let you know if you're going to do better But that's a tough number to beat That's why he's, you know what he wants to do He's very competitive, that's why he's going to add some more teams He figures by adding some more teams Maybe they can top it But the total number of spectators Exceeds the entire attendance Of the last two World Cups combined And together we pulled it off Really flawlessly, I mean I don't want to say this Because you do have two more games And so let's not talk about it yet I don't want to say how great it's been We've had absolute spirit Absolute, I have to say The law enforcement They're fantastic But they didn't have to work too hard Because the spirit was so good There were no fights, there were no anything So I just want to say great But let's save it for Sunday evening I think we'll hold it out for Sunday evening But it's going to go well By the time the final whistle sounds on Sunday Nearly six billion viewers Will have watched this World Cup That's a record by many, many times over I have no doubt that the World Cup Has won millions of new fans And a lot of new fans in this country Which traditionally hasn't been A soccer country But it's getting there even before this It's been going on And this will have a big impact, I'm sure From the first day of my administration In 2025 We've worked closely with FIFA To make this event a resounding success We have great people, Andrew Thank you very much, great job you did You really worked hard Thank you very much, great job To put our preparations Into perspective And the record-setting tournament Has been the logistical equivalent Of holding 78 NFL Super Bowls In less than two months' time 78 We marshaled the resources Of more than 50 federal departments And agencies, deployed every arm Of the federal law enforcement To ensure the games would be safe, secure And successful And they've turned out to be amazing The State Department expedited Thousands and thousands of visas For World Cup ticket holders Very quick, very, we call it fast Fast letting them in We call it let them in fast And we secured, and Marco was fantastic Marco Rubio, fantastic And the job he's done, Secretary of State And we secured more than 1.2 billion dollars in funding To support transit operations And security for the games 1.2, and he wanted more I said, can we just relax for a little while, Charlie? 1.2 billion to transport people Isn't that nice? But I want to thank the White House FIFA Task Force, they've been really fantastic And again, Andrew Giuliani did a fantastic job Thank you very much Hosting guests from all over the globe For the 2026 FIFA World Cup Was also an incredibly special way To help kick off America 250 years of freedom We have Tens of thousands of people from around the world That got to join us We had a fantastic July 4th weekend Like I think we've never had before And it was only enhanced by having You here I don't know if you did that on purpose, I don't think so But it worked out fantastically We had an amazing crowd 450,000 people Showed up To celebrate our country On a very rainy evening And because of lightning, everybody was forced to leave And then I said, we're going to do it anyway Even if I have to speak at 2 o'clock in the morning We called everybody back And 150,000 people came back They were on their way back to Texas and Oklahoma And we had 150,000 people Standing in the rain Late in the evening Somebody suggested, let's do it on a different day Maybe in a week or two I said, no it doesn't work in a week or two It worked on the 250th year From the Scotland fans Who took over the streets of Boston last month To the Argentinian supporters Who cheered on Messi, how good is Messi The hat trick in Kansas City He had the hat trick Something very rare I guess In your sport, that's pretty rare isn't it To our First ally France winning In Philadelphia on July 4th What a game They seem to be They seem to be unbeatable And then they didn't Beat Spain They were the team that was favorite They were the team that was winning Probably the most easily Something happens, it can happen in life It's sports, it can happen in life too You're hot as a pistol and then you're not so hot But I wouldn't know about a thing like that No it happens in life You're hot and then you're not But you have to always make a comeback right You can never give up But it's been a true honor for Americans to share Our magnificent country with the world And today America It's stronger and wealthier and hotter than ever before And you're a big part of it Once again I want to thank Johnny And the incredible people of FIFA They're incredible people I got to know some of them during this period of time I'll get to know some more on Sunday And I want to congratulate every team That made the 2026 World Cup One of the all time greatest sporting events in history And I think beyond a sporting event This has been Not just a sporting event This has been far beyond a sporting event This has been something very very special So good luck to Spain And Argentina on Sunday And may the best team win And now it's a pleasure It's really my pleasure to introduce A very talented man The man that I cannot tell Luciano was a great friend of mine And he was a great singer And I cannot tell the difference The only one that tells me he's not as good Is Christopher He says I'm not as good as him He was the greatest of all time But Christopher Macchio Is a great great talent A very highly respected person Within the world of opera And You're going to hear a tremendous voice And again thank you very much And Johnny congratulations on probably The most successful event ever held Thank you