‘One of the greats’: Trump praises Football legend Pele at FIFA World Cup 2026 final draw

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump praised football legend Pele while speaking at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw ceremony, recalling his memories of watching the Brazilian star play for the Cosmos.

Trump also humorously highlighted the naming conflict between American football and soccer, suggesting that the National Football League (NFL) consider changing its name.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage was finally mapped out after a glittering Final Draw ceremony in Washington, DC’s John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts on Friday. Mexico will take on South Africa in Group A in the opening game of the tournament at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11. The USA, Mexico and Canada will co-host the tournament.

“It was a long time ago, but I remember watching Pele play on a team called the Cosmos. Pele, who’s fantastic, is one of the greats. When you look at what has happened to football in the United States, again, soccer in the United States, we seem never to call it that because we have a little bit of a conflict with another thing that’s called football. But when you think about it, shouldn’t it really be called? I mean, this is football. There’s no question about it. We have to come up with another name for the NFL. It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it. It’s really football,” Trump said.

During the ceremony, Trump was also awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington. FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarded Trump moments before teams were assigned their tournament groups.

President Trump, in his brief speech on Friday, called the award “one of the great honours of my life.”

“This is truly one of the great honours of my life, and beyond awards, we saved millions and millions of lives,” Trump said

The FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage was finally mapped out after a glittering Final Draw ceremony in Washington, DC’s John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts on Friday. The 2026 World Cup will feature a new format, with 48 participating teams for the first time, divided into 12 groups of four.

The 12 groups were drawn during the event, which was attended by several legends across various sports, such as England and Manchester United Football icon Rio Ferdinand, who was conducting the draw event, with Basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal, NFL legend Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, an ice hockey great, and Major League Baseball (MLB) star Aaron Judge acting as assistants.

The top two teams from each section and the eight best third-place teams from each group will advance to the round of 32. Six of the 48 teams competing in the World Cup are yet to be determined, and the complete list will be known by March next year.

Four of these teams are coming from the 16-team UEFA play-offs, which feature Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkiye, Ukraine and Wales.

The other two spots will be fought for during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off tournament, which features: Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname. (ANI)