Lionel Messi put aside his aversion to politics Thursday and walked alongside Donald Trump at the White House to commemorate his club championship with Inter Miami, handing the US president a rare photo-op.
Soccer legend Lionel Messi put aside his aversion to politics Thursday and walked alongside Donald Trump at the White House to commemorate his club championship with Inter Miami, handing the US president a rare photo-op. Presidents have welcomed champions for decades to capitalize on the winning optics. But Messi’s visit stands apart as he’s long avoided presidential visits, and sports media speculated for days whether he’d actually go this time. In January 2025, Messi declined President Joe Biden’s invitation to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing schedule conflicts.
Trump reveled in receiving a VIP his predecessor couldn’t.
“It’s my distinct privilege to say what no American president has ever had the chance to say before: ‘Welcome to the White House, Lionel Messi,'” Trump said.
When Argentina won the World Cup in 2022 – Messi’s crowning moment – the team ghosted Argentine leader Alberto Fernandez, who invited them all to celebrate from balcony of the presidential palace. Messi even dodged Fernandez’s minister as he descended from the plane in Buenos Aires, shielded by his entourage. Argentina’s victory parade got so chaotic in Buenos Aires, with millions of fans, that Messi and others had to be airlifted by helicopters.
Even Argentina’s current President Javier Milei, who is a top Trump ally in Latin America, can’t get a selfie with the nation’s most famous man, with 512 million Instagram followers. Even after praising Messi in an event they both attended last November in Miami, Milei left without the photo any Argentine politician would move mountains to make happen.
To be sure, Messi is in an awkward spot in Argentina a few months before what stands to be his final World Cup when the albiceleste plays in the US. Milei is publicly bashing Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, the head of the country’s powerful soccer association known as AFA, who’s been loyal to Messi. Milei and Tapia have been at odds for years as Milei wants to privatize the ownership structures of Argentina’s club teams, an overhaul AFA opposes. Messi hasn’t commented on that situation.
Tapia is also under investigation in Argentina over corruption allegations linked to an opulent property with a helipad outside of Buenos Aires. Last December, he declared annual income of about $584,000 from multiple roles he holds. Tensions have flared so much between the two that Milei decided not to show up to Trump’s World Cup event in Washington last December because Tapia was going too.
Messi has crossed paths with world leaders, but often only at World Cup games and not at presidential palaces. He did go with the national squad in 2014 to meet then-President Cristina Kirchner after the team lost in the final against Germany.