Argentina\u2019s superstar Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates were honored by President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday in recognition of their 2025 Major League Soccer Cup championship. The event marked a rare intersection of American politics and global sport, drawing attention well beyond U.S. soccer circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messi stood at the center of the ceremony as Miami players, coach Javier Mascherano, and team co-owner Jorge Mas joined Trump in the East Room. The president opened with remarks on military developments in the Middle East before shifting to the team\u2019s achievements and the broader impact of soccer in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump recalled the excitement surrounding Brazilian legend Pele\u2019s stint with the New York Cosmos in the 1970s, noting how it helped ignite interest in the sport across America. He then turned to Messi\u2019s influence, suggesting the Argentine forward may have surpassed Pele\u2019s legacy. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t say this because I\u2019m old, but I watched Pele play,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, you may be better than Pele. Pele was pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ceremony highlighted Messi\u2019s transformative role in American soccer since joining Inter Miami in 2023. His presence has boosted attendance, television ratings, and international visibility for MLS, culminating in Miami\u2019s first league title in 2025. Analysts say his impact has been comparable to Pele\u2019s in terms of raising the sport\u2019s profile in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Inter Miami, the White House reception capped a season of dominance and underscored the franchise\u2019s rapid rise from expansion team to championship contender. Mascherano praised his players for their resilience and credited Messi\u2019s leadership for inspiring the squad to reach new heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The celebration reflected both the growing stature of MLS and the cultural significance of Messi\u2019s career. By honoring the team, Trump placed their victory within a broader narrative of soccer\u2019s evolution in America, linking past icons with present achievements and underscoring the sport\u2019s expanding global reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Argentina\u2019s superstar Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates were honored by President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday in recognition of their 2025 Major League Soccer Cup championship. The event marked a rare intersection of American politics and global sport, drawing attention well beyond U.S. soccer circles. Messi stood at the center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":26725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,458,18,1138,7],"tags":[5766,5767,5760,5764,5758,5770,5768,5756,5769,5765],"class_list":["post-26724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-legal","category-lifestyle","category-politics","category-sports","tag-donald-trump-hosts-messi-and-inter-miami-after-mls-cup-win","tag-inter-miami-celebrates-2025-mls-championship-at-mar-a-lago","tag-inter-miami-championship-celebration","tag-inter-miami-global-profile","tag-inter-miami-mls-cup-2025","tag-inter-miamis-rise-in-mls-with-messi-and-trump-event","tag-lionel-messi-leads-inter-miami-to-historic-mls-cup-triumph","tag-trump-hosts-messi","tag-trump-reception-highlights-messis-influence-on-u-s-soccer","tag-u-s-soccer-international-attention"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot_6-3-2026_94117_www.bing_.com_.jpeg?fit=772%2C456&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26726,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26724\/revisions\/26726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}