Spain and FIFA Edit Donald Trump Out of World Cup Victory Photos After POTUS Lingered at Team's Celebration

Both FIFA and the Spanish Football Federation appeared to crop President Donald Trump out of the official World Cup victory photos they posted to social media following Spain’s 1-0 victory against Argentina on Sunday, July 19.

Following Spain’s 1-0 overtime victory over Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, President Trump joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino on stage to present the tournament medals and hand the trophy to Spanish captain Rodri.

After giving the trophy, Trump remained directly in the center of the stage as the team's victory celebration began. Broadcast footage and fan videos showed Infantino trying to guide a lingering Trump off the stage so the players could take their team photos alone. Because Trump remained in full view at the front of the stage during the initial trophy lift, he appeared in many live broadcast images and early press photos.

Australian broadcaster Claudio Fabiano from SBS was caught on a hot mic saying "they can edit him out of that" after octogenarian Trump awkwardly lingered during Spain's World Cup trophy celebration. The comment went viral as the Spanish national football team did indeed edit Trump out of their official celebratory photos on social media.

The official FIFA World Cup account on X posted a celebratory photo of the trophy lift, tightly cropped to remove Trump and Infantino entirely, leaving only a sliver of the president's shoulder in view.

The Spanish national team's official Instagram and social media channels also uploaded photos that completely omitted Trump. Some of their images focused exclusively on the player huddle, while others used a photo taken seconds after Trump had finally stepped out of the frame.

Many football fans applauded FIFA and the Spanish Football Federation (SEFutbol), stating that the World Cup final should strictly be about athletic achievement. Commenters widely agreed that removing Trump was "the best idea" to keep the focus on Spain's historic win.

“Thanks for cropping out these two clowns who have disgraced the tournament since Day 1,” noted another of the absence of Trump and Infantino.

“They are doing it in almost all the Spanish papers that I’m checking online, the regular dailies as well as sports tabs. It’s glorious … What the US and the world need to do is ignore him, as the three networks do. That’ll really get under his skin,” said someone else.

“Stolen valor,” posted another of Trump’s shameless photobombing.

Spanish supporters online quickly pointed out the irony of Trump trying to remain in Spain's victory photo. Critics cited his highly publicized political remarks earlier in the month, in which he harshly criticized Spain as a NATO partner and called for an end to U.S.-Spain trade.

"Well, he said that Spain is a bad country and that he doesn't want to trade with them. Lol. Why wouldn't they photoshop him out?" wrote one.

Viewers also seized on a moment during the podium chaos when one of the Spanish players jokingly mimicked Trump’s signature cringe "Y.M.C.A. dance" right in front of him, which quickly turned into a trending tournament meme.