Weah, McKennie and Juventus’ surreal audience with Trump - ‘A bit weird’

Wednesday afternoon in Washington D.C. and, in normal circumstances, Italian club Juventus would have been preparing for an evening fixture against Al-Ain FC, the Abu Dhabi team, in the opening match of their FIFA Club World Cup campaign.

Instead, an entourage of executives and players headed to the Oval Office and stood behind President Donald Trump during his media briefing with the White House press pool.

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Over the course of a 16-minute appearance, the group — including U.S. Men’s National Team duo Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah — stood by as Trump discussed a possible attack on Iran, whether the U.S. Civil War could have been avoided and his administration’s travel bans. He also quizzed them on whether a woman could get into their team.

“It was all a surprise to me, honestly — they told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,” Weah said after Juventus’ 5-0 win on Wednesday. “I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it’s kind of like, I just want to play football man.”

Who attended the event?

The Juventus delegation at the White House included the club’s owner John Elkann, chief executive Maurizio Scanavino, recently appointed general manager Damien Comolli and director of football strategy Giorgio Chiellini.

The cohort also included Juventus’ American players McKennie and Weah, as well as other leading footballers such as Dusan Vlahovic, Manuel Locatelli, Teun Koopmeiners, Federico Gatti and the team’s head coach Igor Tudor.

The FIFA president Gianni Infantino was also in the room, along with Carlos Cordeiro, a former U.S. Soccer Federation president. The latter serves as an advisor to Infantino, as well as being a senior advisor to the recently assembled White House Task Force which is working on logistics, operations and security for the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico.

(Left to right) Cordeiro, Infantino, Trump, Elkann and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the presidential task force for the 2026 World Cup, in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Infantino posed for photographs with President Trump and also presented him with a FIFA Club World Cup jersey. It sported the tournament’s slogan “football unites the world” and had Trump’s name and the number 47 emblazoned across the back — to recognise that Trump is the 47th President of the U.S.. He also received a Juventus jersey from Elkann.

What was said?

Trump made the introductions, telling journalists that there was going to be a game in D.C. on Wednesday evening. “It’s totally sold out,” Trump said.

“Of course,” Infantino replied. Tickets were still been available on the FIFA portal via Ticketmaster on Wednesday morning and the attendance given after the game was 18,161. The ground’s official capacity is 20,000.

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“We have two great American players. Where are you, my American players?” said Trump as he looked behind him, searching for McKennie and Weah.

“Fantastic, so good luck,” he said, shaking their hands. “I hope you’re going to be the best two players on the field.”

McKennie has previously criticised Trump. Speaking in June 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Protests during his first term, McKennie told German media outlet Bild: “I don’t think that Trump is the right one for the job as the president. I stand by these words. I believe he doesn’t understand the responsibility he has for the entire country. I think he’s ignorant. I don’t support him a bit. I don’t think he’s a man to stand by his word. In my eyes, you can call him racist.”

Trump shakes hands with McKennie, with Weah, his USMNT team-mate, next to him (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Weah’s father, meanwhile, is George Weah, a former Ballon d’Or winner in 1995 and the President of Liberia between 2018 and 2024.

Upon Trump’s return to power, Weah Sr. said “the story of his remarkable comeback as leader of the Free World demonstrates the power of resilience and hard work, as well as the American people’s embrace of his agenda for their country”. This week, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration may expand travel bans to up to 36 additional countries, including Liberia.

Trump also asked the Juventus players: “Could a woman make your team, fellas?”

When Trump did not receive a response, he turned his glances down the line behind him and asked general manager Comolli. The Frenchman said Juventus have a very good women’s team (they are the reigning Italian champions). Trump continued: “But they should be playing with women.”

Comolli did not answer. “They’re being very diplomatic,” said Trump, who signed an executive order in February, Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports, which made it the policy of the U.S. government to oppose the participation of transgender women in women’s sports.

Trump asks Comolli, far right, about women’s players (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The conversation moved on. Trump talked about having meetings in the war room — the “situation room” — about the Middle East. “I hate to see so much destruction and death,” Trump said. He then said that the U.S. Civil War could have been solved without losing 600,000 people.

Trump also invited questions, encouraging journalists to ask about the World Cup. Except this was a room of political journalists and they had other priorities.

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The first question was whether the president knew the latest about evacuations out of Israel. He said no and said he was having a meeting on the matter afterwards.

Then he was asked about his plans in the event of regime change in Iran. He said he had a plan for everything and that he would see what happens. He then admonished the Iranians for not making a deal with the United States before matters had escalated with Israel over the past week.

Tudor, in the black jacket, during his visit to the White House (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Throughout all of this, the Juventus cohort were stood behind him; bystanders while the president discussed the most significant matters on the planet.

Next up: could the Iranian regime fall? “Anything could happen,” Trump said.

Why were Juventus players in the Oval Office?

Juventus, world governing body FIFA and the White House did not provide an official explanation for how the event came about.

Juventus were in D.C. for their Club World Cup match but several people familiar with the matter, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, indicated they were invited by the White House to visit. There have also been recent meetings between the famous Italian club’s ownership and Trump.

Elkann, a 49-year-old New York-born businessman, is the chief executive of the club’s majority shareholder, Exor, which is the holding company controlled by Juventus’ owners, the Agnelli family. Historically, Juventus are Italy’s most successful club and one of Europe’s most famous teams. Elkann is the grandson and chosen heir of Gianni Agnelli, who made his name as the leading shareholder of Italian car giant Fiat and died in 2003.

Elkann is the main man at Exor, which has controlling stakes in Juventus and Ferrari (including the Formula One team), as well as Italian media outlets La Repubblica and La Stampa, plus The Economist Group. Elkann is also the chair of Stellantis, the automaker conglomerate whose umbrella includes Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot and Vauxhall.

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The Agnellis have always been big Atlanticists. Gianni Agnelli, for example, used to bring Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. Secretary of State, to games and they became great friends.

In recent months, Elkann has signalled his concern over the potential impact of U.S. tariffs imposed on the car making sector. On Wednesday, Trump described him as a “fantastic business person, a man who has done a fantastic job in the automobile industry, who comes from a lineage of winners”.

Trump discusses possible action against Iran with the Juventus delegation behind him (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Some members of Juventus’ entourage, including players, were not aware they would be unveiled at a press conference before attending the event. Senior personnel at U.S. Soccer were also not aware that USMNT players were headed to the White House.

The media pool ended shortly before 3.30pm (8.30pm BST) local time, with Juventus’ match kicking off at 9pm (2am BST). McKennie was among those who attended and he was in the Juventus starting lineup, while Weah came off the bench at half-time.

“I guess it was a cool experience, obviously, being in the White House… as the first time, it’s always wonderful, but I’m not one for the politics, so it wasn’t that exciting,” Weah said after the game.

Tudor was also asked a general question about the trip to the White House in his post-match press conference. He said: “You don’t go to the White House every day so it was a pleasure to go.”

The Athletic then asked him to expand a little on what the experience was like and how it felt to be a football coach standing behind the desk at the Oval Office as the president discussed major global issues like Iran and Israel.

The FIFA moderator of the press conference intervened. He said that questions should be focused on the game. The Athletic argued that, given the owner, players and executives had been present on game day, it was a fair question. The FIFA official reiterated questions must be focused on the game.

Why was Infantino in the Oval Office?

FIFA president Infantino was invited as a guest and the governing body did not plan the event, according to people at the organisation who were not authorised to speak publicly. It meant Infantino missed Real Madrid’s opening match of the tournament against Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, a game he would have been expected to attend given the importance of his relationship with Madrid’s president Florentino Perez, one of the most vocal backers of the Club World Cup.

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He also has a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund PIF (which owns Al Hilal) have sponsored the competition. PIF’s sporting arm SURJ recently invested $1billion (£747m) into DAZN, shortly after DAZN committed $1bn to become the global broadcast partner of the Club World Cup.

But Infantino is becoming an increasingly frequent visitor to the Oval Office, having first developed a bond with the U.S. president during the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup which culminated in 2018 during Trump’s first term.

On Wednesday, Trump was asked whether travel bans, which threaten to exclude supporters from travelling to the U.S. for the tournament next year, are a concern.

Trump looked at Infantino and said: “Gianni, go ahead.”

Infantino said: “No, it is not a concern for us. For the games now in the Club World Cup, everything has been done in a very smooth way. We have an excellent, excellent collaboration of course with the president and the Task Force in particular.”

Trump then interjected: “They’re largely sold out (at the Club World Cup) — I don’t think he’s too worried about the travel ban. He doesn’t know what the travel ban is I don’t think.”

Infantino laughed along, despite the tens of thousands of empty seats at several group stage games so far in the competition.

“Tonight is totally (sold out),” Trump repeated. “I have had friends, they heard about this meeting. They said: ‘Can you give me tickets?’ I don’t know if I can get tickets!”

Are sports teams often invited to the White House?

There is a long tradition of sports teams visiting the White House, with President Andrew Johnson reported to have invited two amateur baseball teams to the residence as far back as 1865.

In modern times it has become commonplace for championship-winning teams to appear in the Oval Office, though in Trump’s first term he withdrew invitations to NBA champions Golden State Warriors and Super Bowl winners Philadelphia Eagles after some players on both teams said they would not attend.

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Trump became the first sitting president to go to the Super Bowl in his second term and there has generally been less dissent from the sports world this time round.

However, quarterback Jalen Hurts was among a number of players to skip the Eagles’ White House ceremony in April.

(Top photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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