U.S. President Donald Trump names his footballing GOAT and reveals he watched him play

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed Brazilian footballing legend Pele as his greatest player of all the time after revealing he watched him play first-hand.

The 45th and 47th President of the United States was in attendance at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium to witness the FIFA Club World Cup final, bringing to a close a month of extraordinary action played out in his country.

The USA, across 12 venues, hosted 63 matches played between 32 clubs teams from each continent around the globe in what became a celebration and festival of football, with every game live and free on DAZN, the official Club World Cup broadcaster.

 

 

While a major tournament in its own right, the newly expanded Club World Cup also acted as a test event for next year's international FIFA World Cup, which the U.S will host in partnership with Canada and Mexico.

Having watched English side Chelsea defeat French outfit Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in Sunday's final, President Trump spoke exclusively to DAZN about how he believes the game can bring a divided world back together.

Chelsea 3-0 PSG | FIFA Club World Cup Final Highlights

He was also asked about his footballing heroes and cited Pele, universally regarded as one the greatest footballers of all time, as his favourite.

The iconic former striker, who died in December 2022 aged 82, enjoyed a spell with New York Cosmos between 1975 and 1977 before retiring.

“Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player called Pele to play and he played for a team called the Cosmos,” said Trump.

“And this place was packed – it was an earlier version of this stadium [the MetLife Stadium] and it was Pele.

“I don’t want to date myself but that was a long time ago and I was a young guy so I came to watch Pele and he was fantastic.

“So probably I’ll go old-fashioned – that’s like saying Babe Ruth – and say Pele was so great.”

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