The man who won Spain the World Cup says his Trumpy PR move after the team’s victory had nothing to do with politics.
Ferran Torres, 26, came on as a substitute in the FIFA tournament final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and beat Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 106th minute. The strike sealed a 1-0 win and earning Spain its second World Cup title, after 2010.
President Donald Trump, 80, handed over the trophy himself. A day later, Torres rode a victory bus in Madrid wearing a red cap lifted from the MAGA template—a stunt CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed him on during an interview with the network on Monday.
“At the game this year, President Trump was there. You were later seen wearing a Make Spain Great Again hat,” Collins said. “Where did you even get that hat?”
The Spanish forward deflected the question about his “funny moment” to insist instead it “was not about politics.”
“Honestly, I don’t know about politics,” he said. “It was just to be able to see Spain again on the top, winning the World Cup. It was just to have fun. With my friends, with my family. I don’t know anything about politics, nothing about… nah.”
The White House has already claimed Torres as one of MAGA’s own. Its official account posted parade footage on July 21 captioned: “Everyone wants in on the movement.” Trump himself weighed in days later, calling the hat a “nice tribute.”
Trump drew a hostile reception at the final. Boos went up when his face hit the video boards after the anthem, and again when he walked out for the presentation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, 56.
Argentina defender Cristian Romero, 28, walked past without shaking his hand at the medal ceremony. Infantino tried to move the president along, but Trump stayed put among the Spain players while Spain captain Rodri raised the trophy.
It was not the first time. At the Club World Cup final at the same stadium in July 2025, Trump slipped a Chelsea winners’ medal into his jacket and joined the players on stage. He told an interviewer during that match that Chelsea’s trophy would be a copy, because he was keeping the original.
Trump had also already intervened in this year’s officiating. U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, 25, was red-carded and sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 for an opposing player’s ankle, which carried a one-match ban covering the next game against Belgium.
Trump phoned Infantino to ask for a review, and FIFA put the ban on hold. “I didn’t know what the hell a red card was,” Trump told reporters. Belgium’s federation appealed, and FIFA threw it out as “inadmissible.” The U.S. lost 4-1 anyway.
The Daily Beast has contacted Torres’ representatives for comment.
