Political gesture?
One Facebook user claimed that D. Trump was cut out of a photo of the Spanish national team’s victory celebration. According to him, this was done not only on the official team website but also on FIFA’s account.
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The internet user also noted that two Argentine defenders refused to shake the US leader’s hand during the awards ceremony.
The man assessed these actions as a political move: “Sport is an extension of politics by other means, and all countries, nations, and regimes have always used sporting achievements to spread their ideas.
Regarding Trump, one simply needs to understand that in many countries, including the United States, he is perceived as an aggressor and a general threat to peace.”
D. Trump is indeed not visible in the photo shared by the internet user. However, there is a lot of empty space around the footballers in it, so it is not unlikely that he was simply not captured in this shot. Many photographers photographed the world champions, so there were plenty of photos.
However, many media portals noticed that D. Trump hesitated to leave the frame when the Spanish national team wanted to pose with the championship trophy.
Some match commentators described the host nation’s leader’s behavior during the ceremony as “awkward”.
D. Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, entering the field for the awards ceremony, were met with boos from the crowd. One Spanish player also mimicked D. Trump’s favorite dance moves.
What do the photos and recordings reveal?
Videos available online show D. Trump and G. Infantino presenting medals to players and jointly presenting the trophy. Here’s how it unfolded:
After the presentation, G. Infantino moves to the left, while the president remains on the right. Then D. Trump congratulates a few more players. The video shows the FIFA head running up to the president and, likely, asking him to step out of the frame, but he remains standing right next to the players. Only after G. Infantino speaks to him again does he finally move a little further away and step off the stage. As the team begins to celebrate with confetti, D. Trump stands nearby for a few more moments but quickly retreats.
There were countless photos of this moment; in some, the president is seen standing or walking away, in others, he is not present.
Specifically, in the photo shared by the internet user, D. Trump should be on the right side, but he is not there. Several media outlets used precisely this photo. This suggests that the photo was not cropped, but rather that such a frame was simply chosen.
A similar incident occurred last year when D. Trump, along with G. Infantino, presented the Club World Cup to the “Chelsea” team. At that time, the FIFA head stepped aside, while the US president remained in the frame as the team celebrated and lifted the trophy.
After the match, Chelsea captain Reece James stated that he was told the president would present the trophy and then step aside, while player Cole Palmer said that the incident “confused him a bit”.
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Political decision?
It is true that both FIFA and the Spanish national team posted photos on social media where D. Trump is not visible.
In the winners’ photo (archived) published on FIFA’s official account, the president’s shoulder is still visible on the right side. It appears as if the photo was cropped.
However, 15min also found the original frame in the “Getty Images” database. It can be seen that the photograph published by FIFA was cropped slightly, and the president was already at the very edge of this frame.
It is unlikely that this was a political decision, as the relationship between G. Infantino and the US leader is quite close. There were even reports in the media that D. Trump would like to see G. Infantino as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.
D. Trump is also not present in the frame published (archived) by the Spanish national team. However, as mentioned, the internet is full of frames where he had already moved away from the team. There would be no point for the Spanish national team to waste time cropping him out – it would be simpler to just choose a frame where D. Trump is not present.
Spain also shared a short video (archived) where players jump up celebrating their victory. It is very likely that this clip was cropped.
Although D. Trump was still standing nearby at the time, this format is vertical, adapted for phone screens. Since part of the image is cut off from the sides to maintain the center of the composition, the president (as well as some of the players) simply remained outside the frame.
D. Trump is also not visible in the 20-photo carousel (archived) published by the Spanish national team on Instagram. It shows no outsiders – only players.
Meanwhile, the next day, the White House shared six photos of the championship final (archived) on the social network “X” – D. Trump is visible in all of them. In two of them, only the US president is seen, and only in two is the Spanish national team captured. This perfectly illustrates that each side wants to emphasize different things.
It is possible that photos where D. Trump was not visible were specifically selected. It is likely that FIFA and the Spanish national team wanted to focus on the footballers, not the US president. Understanding this, G. Infantino quickly stepped out of the frame after presenting the awards so that the team could capture their historic victory in photos.
15min verdict: lacking context. D. Trump was most likely not cut out of FIFA and the Spanish national team’s awards ceremony photos for political reasons. FIFA cropped the frame only slightly (D. Trump’s shoulder is still visible in it). The Spanish national team chose moments when the president had already moved out of the frame.
The publication was prepared by 15min in cooperation with “Meta”, aiming to curb the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.
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