Cristiano, Messi, Trump, the Democratic Party... Is ‘football’ of interest in the United States?

The sport Americans call soccer is maybe edging closer to being taken seriously enough to simply be called football. That, at least, is the hope of those pushing hardest for change. It still doesn’t command the emotional or cultural space held by other US sports, yet in recent months an unexpected fever has swept across political circles – led by Donald Trump and now embraced by Democrats – with both sides rallying behind the global magnetism of Leo Messi, even as the president appears to have warmed more to Cristiano Ronaldo.

FIFA has read the moment perfectly. The expanded Club World Cup and the looming 48-team World Cup are its clearest bets on the sport’s potential. Trump’s bond with Gianni Infantino is unshakeable. FIFA has even opened an office in Trump Tower, and every move in the run-up to what’s coming seems to orbit around the US president, who in the space of days has managed to link himself publicly with both Messi and Ronaldo.

Last year brought an attempt to bring the pair together at the Club World Cup. It didn’t materialize. Next summer they will finally share the pitch again, but Trump and other political players weren’t willing to wait, as recent events show. The latest example is the former Real Madrid forward’s visit to Washington.

The White House Instagram account posted a video of Trump meeting Ronaldo on Tuesday night (18). Within hours it had surpassed 7.2 million likes – a record for the page. Previous posts typically drew between 30,000 and 50,000 likes, with recent peaks around 214,000. The short clip shows Trump, Ronaldo and his partner, Georgina Rodríguez, walking, chatting and laughing in what appears to be a relaxed exchange.

The meeting was part of a tribute to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has become one of the most influential political backers of world football. Alongside Ronaldo, now playing for Al-Nassr, the dinner also included Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook and FIFA’s Infantino, who just a day earlier had been in Rabat presenting Achraf Hakimi with the African Player of the Year award.

“You know what? My son is a huge fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. Now that he’s here, I think he respects his father a bit more after I introduced them. Thank you for being here, it’s an honor,” Trump said during the private ceremony.

“My son is a huge fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. Now that he’s here, I think he respects his father a bit more after I introduced them.”

Donald Trump, U.S. President

Marketing and social-media specialists note that viral moments like this blend audiences that otherwise have little overlap, creating value that’s impossible to quantify.

“The White House’s track record shows that on social media, attention outweighs any thematic boundary. When figures like Trump and Cristiano Ronaldo appear together, the reach multiplies through cross-identification: football fans, political observers, celebrity watchers. It’s the purest form of the attention economy,” said Wagner Leitzke, digital director at Agência End to End.

“When figures like Trump and Cristiano Ronaldo appear together, the reach multiplies through cross-identification”

Wagner Leitzke, digital director at Agência End to End

What few anticipated was the Democrats’ response. The party’s social channels countered by embracing Messi, even though days earlier Trump and the Argentine had shared the stage at an event backed by Republicans.

“The gains are extraordinary, but the risks are equally high, especially with politicians, whose pasts often produce unpleasant surprises and whose futures depend on the next election. Politicians always win. Athletes don’t always – unless they’re seeking something beyond what athletes usually seek,” said Thiago Freitas, chief operating officer at Roc Nation Sports.

“Two topics with great appeal: football and politics. By combining them and engaging with world figures, the reach becomes incalculable.”

Renê Salviano, director general de Heatmap.

Renê Salviano, managing director of Heatmap, added, “Two topics with massive appeal: football and politics. When you combine them and add global stars, the reach becomes incalculable, as we’ve just seen.”

In a country that has spent most of its history indifferent to football, politics now finds itself orbiting around the sport’s two defining icons of recent decades. Opportunism? Genuine interest? As the World Cup approaches, the shift is undeniable, and the US is experiencing a level of anticipation for the still-misnamed soccer unlike anything in its past.

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