Washington, July 18 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has declared that the United States has become a football nation after the 2026 FIFA World Cup drew record crowds and attracted millions of international visitors to North America.

“We’re not a soccer country. It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain,” Trump said at a FIFA reception in New York ahead of Sunday’s final between Argentina and Spain.

Trump used “soccer”, the term commonly used for football in the United States, where “football” generally refers to the distinctly different sport of American football.

Trump called the tournament “the most successful sporting event, maybe in the history of the world” and credited FIFA President Gianni Infantino and US federal agencies with organising it.

“The 2026 FIFA World Cup has broken almost every record imaginable,” Trump said. “This is the largest World Cup in history by far, by many times actually, welcoming 16 additional teams.”

He said more than 6.5 million spectators had attended the tournament, exceeding the combined attendance of the previous two World Cups. Fans from 200 countries attended 104 matches across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, he said.

“By the time the final whistle sounds on Sunday, nearly 6 billion viewers will have watched this World Cup,” Trump said. “That’s a record by many, many times over.”

The president said his administration had worked closely with FIFA since he took office in 2025. More than 50 federal departments and agencies were involved in preparations, while federal law enforcement personnel were deployed to secure the tournament.

“The State Department expedited thousands and thousands of visas for World Cup ticket holders,” Trump said. He praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said the administration had secured more than $1.2 billion for transport operations and security.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino thanked Trump and his administration for helping deliver what he described as an unprecedented global event.

“This World Cup would not have been such an incredible success without you,” Infantino told Trump. “This has not just been and is not just the greatest World Cup of all times.”

“It is the greatest human, social, and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed and seen and we are all part of it,” he said.

Infantino said seven million people had watched matches inside stadiums, while tens of millions joined celebrations in host cities across the three countries.

“We united the world in America,” he said. “Everyone that came here enjoyed it. Everyone that stayed home enjoyed it, as well.”

The reception came before Saturday’s third-place match between England and France and Sunday’s final between defending champions Argentina and Spain. Trump said he would attend the final with First Lady Melania Trump.

The United States, Canada and Mexico won the right to host the 2026 World Cup in 2018. It is the first edition of the men’s tournament to feature 48 teams, up from 32, and the first to be staged across three countries.

The United States previously hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994, while Canada hosted the women’s tournament in 2015. Mexico hosted the men’s competition in 1970 and 1986.

--IANS

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