Spain secured their second World Cup title with a 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Ferran Torres’s 106th-minute strike settling a tense final. The goal punctured Argentina’s bid to become the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962, and it handed La Roja their first global crown since 2010. On the pitch, the contest was decided by a moment of incision from the substitute, but the images that ricocheted around the world were dominated by what unfolded during the trophy presentation.

When Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino walked onto the turf to present the trophy, a cascade of boos rolled down from the stands. The US president, who had arrived by Marine One and watched the match from a VIP box beside his wife Melania and Infantino, then remained on the podium long after protocol dictated he should depart. Footage showed Infantino attempting to guide Trump away, but the president stayed at the edge of the Spanish huddle, at one point performing a brief version of his signature dance. Spain’s captain Rodri, holding the trophy, waited until Trump had shifted marginally out of the central frame before hoisting it aloft, a moment of quiet insistence that the stage belonged to the players.

The ceremony also produced pointed gestures from the defeated Argentines. Defender Cristian Romero accepted his silver medal from Infantino and shook hands with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, but walked past Trump without making eye contact or extending his hand. Teammate Lisandro Martínez similarly avoided a handshake, lowering his head as Trump placed the medal around his neck. Viewed from Buenos Aires, the snubs were read as a rebuke to a president who had openly favoured Argentina before kick-off, citing his bond with the absent Javier Milei; the Argentine leader had stayed home, citing superstition. From Madrid, the awkwardness was compounded by the fact that Trump had spent months berating Spain over NATO spending and its refusal to support US military action against Iran, once calling the country “hopeless”.

Within hours, the Spanish football federation published its official victory photograph. Trump was absent, cropped out of the frame. The edit ignited a social media storm, with users joking that the image offered a filter many wished they could apply to daily life. FIFA’s own channels also shared pictures that excluded the president. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters that the tournament had been “the most successful sporting event maybe in the history of the world” and suggested the US should host again immediately, adding that it “turned out we were a soccer country”.

Spain’s triumph, achieved despite the political noise, denied Argentina a third star and closed a tournament that had been shadowed by Trump’s earlier intervention to help overturn a red card for American striker Folarin Balogun. As the confetti settled, the enduring image was not of Rodri lifting the trophy, but of a president who refused to leave the frame, and a champion that quietly edited him out.