President Donald Trump declared it was time for American football to change its name, so the U.S. could fall in line with the rest of the world and refer to soccer as football.
Trump, 79, made the comment in a rambling answer while participating in the FIFA World CUP Final Draw at the Kennedy Center on Friday.
“When you look at what has happened to football in the United States, it’s again soccer in the United States, we seem to never call it that because we have a little bit of conflict with another thing called football,” Trump said.
“But when you think about it, shouldn’t it really be called, I mean, this is football, there’s no question about it. We have to come up with another name for that,” he continued. “It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it. This is really football.”
As the president spoke, the players, officials and soccer fans in the audience could be heard cheering in agreement.
Trump commented while standing alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the first drawings of the event, as the three countries are set to host next year’s World Cup across sixteen North American cities.
The president went back and forth during the event between referring to the sport as both soccer and football.
His tangent was part of a longer answer the president gave as he was answering a question on stage by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Who would have thought it would come to a level where you’ve set your all-time season ticket ratings,” Trump said of the World Cup. “Nobody’s ever sold as many tickets, and you’re still a long way from the ball being kicked down the field.”
It was Trump’s second appearance on the stage at the Kennedy Center for the final draw after he was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize moments earlier.
The award was created in an ongoing suck-up to the president by FIFA after Trump did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The president called it one of the great honors of his lifetime.
During Trump’s acceptance speech, he also touted the record ticket sales.
“It’s an awfully nice tribute to you and to the game of football, or as we call it, soccer, but football, and that is an amazing thing. The numbers are beyond any numbers that anybody, even beyond what Johnny thought was possible,” Trump said.
Infantino also brought up American football during his opening remarks. He noted that the FIFA World Cup was like “104 Super Bowls in one month.”
American football is the most-watched sport in the U.S. It’s followed by basketball and baseball.
