Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca insisted winning the Club World Cup meant as much as winning the Champions League after his side beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the final of the first edition of FIFA’s new competition on Sunday.
“I have the feeling that this competition is going to be as important, if not more important than, the Champions League,” said Maresca after adding the trophy to the UEFA Conference League title his team won in May.
Maresca only took over at Chelsea a year ago but was previously on the coaching staff under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City when they won the Champions League in 2023.
“I was lucky to be on the coaching staff of a team that won the Champions League a few years ago, but this competition features the best teams in the world and I think we can value it on the same level,” said the Italian.
READ ALSO: Rampant Chelsea Thrash PSG To Clinch Club World Cup Title
“It is a great triumph for us and it will allow the Chelsea fans to have that on our shirt for the next four years, so it is a source of pride.”
Maresca said he instructed his players to go out and take the game to PSG from the off — they went on to net all three goals in the first half with Cole Palmer netting a brace before Joao Pedro added his name to the scoresheet.
“The message was to let them understand that we were here to win the game and I think in the first 10 minutes we showed them that,” Maresca said.
“That set the tone of the game, and then the quality of the players was also important.”
England international Palmer was named player of the match after bagging a brace and setting up Joao Pedro’s goal.
The 23-year-old therefore lived up to his superstar billing — his face has appeared on billboards around New York advertising the tournament, alongside the likes of Real Madrid duo Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
“To score the goals was a great feeling, as was the way the team showed fire out there — the gaffer’s game plan was spot on,” he said.
“I just try to do my job every time I go onto the pitch and hopefully I will continue.
“I have seen the billboards in Times Square and outside Madison Square Garden and it is obviously a nice feeling to be alongside those players,” he added.
Barcelona have signed right winger Roony Bardghji from FC Copenhagen, the La Liga champions said Monday.
“The winger has signed for the next four seasons, until June 30, 2029,” said Barca in a statement, without specifying the cost of the deal.
The 19-year-old joined for around 2.5 million euros ($3 million) according to reports in Spanish media.
Bardghji scored 15 goals in 84 games for Copenhagen after reaching the first team in the 2021/2022 season.
READ ALSO: Barca The Team Others Look Up To Now, Says Bonmati
Photo: IG @Roony
He suffered a severe knee injury in May 2024, which kept him out of action for nearly a year, with the youngster making his return in March 2025.
Bardghji becomes Barcelona’s second signing of the summer after they brought in goalkeeper Joan Garcia from local rivals Espanyol.
The Sweden U21 winger is likely to join Barca for their pre-season matches before coach Hansi Flick decides if he is ready to form part of the first team squad for next season.
Donald Trump experienced the agony and the ecstasy of football on Sunday as he was booed at the final of the FIFA Club World Cup — even as he joined in some high-spirited celebrations with champions Chelsea.
The US president was front and centre as the winners took to the stage, grinning broadly in his red tie and clapping and jumping with the players as the jubilant Blues lifted the gleaming trophy, which he had presented to captain Reece James.
But moments earlier, loud booing could be heard among cheers and applause as Trump walked onto the pitch for the presentation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino — before the music in the stadium was turned up.
READ ALSO: Club World Cup Final Scuffle ‘Should Have Been Avoided’ — Luis Enrique
(L-R) US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his wife Leena Al Ashqar attend the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Earlier, the Republican billionaire was also applauded as he and First Lady Melania Trump arrived for the match at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey, just outside New York City.
But when a jumbotron screen briefly showed Trump saluting to the US national anthem, yet more boos could be heard in the giant stadium, before the camera quickly cut away.
The scorn did little to dampen the president’s spirits as he handed out trophies to the star players including the Golden Ball for best player to Cole Palmer, followed by handshakes and medals to the defeated Paris Saint-Germain.
He later called the crowd “tremendous.”
US President Donald Trump holds up his fist after attending the award ceremony following the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
“We had a great time,” he told reporters as he landed at Joint Base Andrews outside the US capital Washington after the match.
The Republican’s appearance at the game also came on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt that he survived at an election rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump has made no secret of his desire to use this year’s club championship and next year’s 2026 World Cup as symbols of the “Golden Age of America” during his second term in the White House.
Next year’s World Cup, the final of which will be held at the same stadium, will coincide with the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
Trump has even set up a White House task force to ensure next year’s championship — hosted jointly with Canada and Mexico — goes smoothly.
‘He loves it’
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (L) and US President Donald Trump carry the trophy during the award ceremony for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Champions, following the final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
Trump has fostered a close relationship with Infantino, who has been a frequent visitor to the White House.
The president has kept the Club World Cup trophy next to his desk in the Oval Office since the FIFA president dropped by in March.
Infantino, who is no stranger to dealing with hard-nosed world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2018 World Cup, thanked Trump for his support on Saturday.
He said Trump had “embraced immediately the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup, and of course of the World Cup next year.”
Infantino also joked that Trump “certainly loves as well the trophy” — whose gold-plated curves match the gilded makeover that the president has given the Oval Office.
But Trump’s fondness of football, or soccer as he would say, is also personal.
The president’s 19-year-old son Barron is a fan, as Infantino pointed out in a press conference at FIFA’s new office in Trump Tower in New York on Saturday.
Asked if Trump liked the game, Infantino replied: “Well I think he does. In his first term as president of the United States, there was a soccer goal in the garden of the White House.
“He then explained to me that his son loved football, and that he loved the game. And of course when you are a parent, you love what your children love, so I think that he loves it.”
As a boarding school student at the New York Military Academy, Trump himself also reportedly played the game for a season.
‘Go home’
US President Donald Trump greets Chelsea’s Ecuadorian midfielder #25 Moises Caicedo during the award ceremony at the end of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
But in typical form, Trump has also mixed political controversy with his football fandom.
Hosting Italian side Juventus in the Oval Office in June, he delivered a diatribe on transgender people in sports before asking the players: “Could a woman make your team, fellas?”
Most of the players looked bemused before Juventus general manager Damien Comolli replied: “We have a very good women’s team.”
“He’s being very diplomatic,” said Trump.
Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown — part of his “America First” policy — has meanwhile sparked fears that football fans will be discouraged from coming to the United States for the 2026 World Cup.
Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique said he was “just trying to separate the players” after being caught up in a scuffle on the pitch at the end of his team’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.
Television footage showed the PSG boss raising his arm to the neck of Joao Pedro, who had earlier scored Chelsea’s third goal following a Cole Palmer brace at the MetLife Stadium.
“There was pushing and shoving, a lot of tension and pressure. The situation obviously should have been avoided,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“My intention was clearly to just try to separate the players.”
READ ALSO: Rampant Chelsea Thrash PSG To Clinch Club World Cup Title
Paris Saint-Germain’s Spanish coach Luis Enrique gestures at the end of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)
He admitted that Chelsea were deserved winners as he urged his team to enjoy a short summer break at the end of a remarkable campaign.
Defeat for PSG denied them what would have been a stunning clean sweep of trophies as they failed to add the Club World Cup to the UEFA Champions League and French league and cup double they claimed in May.
“I think over the course of the game they deserved their win. They played very well,” Luis Enrique said.
“I said beforehand that Chelsea were a very good team and they deserve their victory and the trophy.”
Chelsea’s English defender #24 Reece James lifts the trophy with teammates next to US President Donald Trump during the award ceremony for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Champions, following the final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
A historic season for PSG ends after 11 months and 65 matches, and they now have exactly one month before returning to action in August — there will be another trophy on the line in their next game, against Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Super Cup.
“I think is important for us to enjoy our holidays. They will be very short. But we need to make the most of them,” he said.
PSG’s victory in this year’s Champions League also means they will have another crack at winning the Club World Cup when they participate in the next edition, which is due to take place in 2029.
“I think this tournament was born out of the need to know who the best team in the world is. I think it is an interesting format and I think it could become a real top-level competition,” said the Spaniard.
Jannik Sinner downed Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first Wimbledon title, gaining sweet revenge for his painful defeat in the French Open final.
The world number one is the first Italian to win at the All England Club and now has four Grand Slams to his name at the age of 23.
The tennis world has been captivated by the emergence of the new rivalry to follow the storied “Big Three” era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Sinner and two-time defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz have now shared the past seven Grand Slam titles between them, with the Italian winning four of those.
Defeat in Paris last month was a bitter blow for Sinner, who led by two sets and squandered three match points in the final.
Prior to Sunday’s victory, he had lost five consecutive times against Alcaraz, including the final of the Italian Open in the first tournament he played after returning from a three-month doping ban.
But this time he turned the tables in impressive fashion.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz poses with the runner-up trophy following his defeat against Italy’s Jannik Sinner at the end of their men’s singles final tennis match on the fourteenth day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
Both players were solid on serve until the fifth game, when Alcaraz sprayed a forehand long to hand Sinner the first break of the match.
But the Spaniard leveled at 4-4 to the delight of the Centre Court crowd, which included Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Sinner double-faulted to hand Alcaraz a second set point.
READ ALSO: Tennis World Number One Sinner Accepts 3-Month Doping Ban
The Italian laced a searing forehand down the line, but Alcaraz produced a magical backhand winner, pointing his finger to his ear as the crowd rose to their feet.
Momentum Shift
Sinner, still wearing a protective white sleeve after his nasty fall in his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov, broke in the first game of the second set and led 3-1 after play was briefly halted by a flying cork.
Sinner shook his racquet after winning the first point as he served for the set and was rewarded with cheers before leveling the match with a whipped forehand.
The third set was a tense affair that went with serve until the ninth game, when Sinner broke as Alcaraz slipped over on the baseline, and he went 2-1 up.
The momentum was now all with Sinner and he broke again in the third game of the fourth set to take the match by the scruff of the neck.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner receives from the hands of Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, the winner’s trophy following his victory against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz at the end of their men’s singles final tennis match on the fourteenth day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
The chance was always there that Alcaraz would produce the magic he found at Roland Garros, but Sinner stayed ice-cool.
The Spaniard had two break points to hit back in the eighth game, but Sinner shut the door impressively.
Sinner stepped up to serve for the championship amid a cacophony of noise, staying focused to seal the deal on his second championship point.
The Italian cruised through the first three rounds at Wimbledon, losing just 17 games—equaling an Open Era record set in 1972.
But he got lucky in the fourth round against inspired Bulgarian 19th seed Dimitrov, who was leading by two sets when he suffered an injury that forced him to quit.
Sinner got back into the groove against 10th seed Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals before demolishing seven-time champion Djokovic in the last four.
Alcaraz had been aiming to become just the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive Wimbledons after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Federer, and Djokovic.
Donald Trump will on Sunday showcase his unexpected attachment to a sport in which “America First” remains a dream, for now.
The US president is attending the final of the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup in his latest use of the beautiful game as a soft power political weapon.
His appearance at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey, where Paris Saint-Germain face Chelsea, is very much a trial run for the World Cup final, which will take place in the same stadium next year.
Trump has made it clear he sees both tournaments, as well as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as showpieces for what he calls the “Golden Age of America” during his second term.
The billionaire Republican’s close friendship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a frequent visitor to the White House, is also a factor in his appearance.
Trump has kept the Club World Cup trophy next to his desk in the Oval Office since Infantino dropped by in March.
But Trump’s embrace of football, or soccer as he would say, is also personal.
The president’s 19-year-old son Barron is a fan, as Infantino pointed out in a press conference at FIFA’s new office in Trump Tower in New York on Saturday.
Asked if Trump liked the game, Infantino replied: “Well I think he does. In his first term as president of the United States there was a soccer goal in the garden of the White House.
“He then explained to me that his son loved football and that he loved the game. And of course, when you are a parent, you love what your children love, so I think that he loves it.”
As a student at the New York Military Academy, Trump himself also reportedly played the game for a season.
READ ALSO: [MATCH PREVIEW] PSG, Chelsea Set For Club World Cup Final Showdown
‘Go home’
Advertising for the FIFA Club World Cup final match between Frances Paris Saint-Germain and Englands Chelsea is displayed on a screen at Times Square in New York on July 12, 2025. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)
Trump’s apparent fondness for football may seem unusual for a country where, despite growing popularity, the sport still lags behind American football, basketball, and baseball.
The former reality TV star has, however, always had an eye for popularity, powe,r and influence. And football in its own way brings all three.
Trump pointed out when Infantino visited the White House in March that the United States won the right to host the 2026 World Cup in 2018, during his first term as president.
He said he was “so sad” because he assumed he would not be president when the tournament came around — but his 2020 election loss meant that he would after all.
The FIFA Club World Cup has meanwhile proved more successful than its critics predicted, with around 2.5 million people attending games across the country and some gripping games.
Infantino, who is no stranger to dealing with hard-nosed leaders around the world, thanked Trump for his support on Saturday.
He said Trump “embraced immediately the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup, and of course of the World Cup next year.”
Infantino also joked that Trump “certainly loves as well the trophy” — whose gold-plated curves match the gilded makeover that the president has given the Oval Office.
But in typical form, Trump has also mixed political controversy with his football fandom.
Hosting Italian side Juventus in the Oval Office in June, he delivered a diatribe on transgender people in sports before asking the players: “Could a woman make your team, fellas?”
Most of the players looked bemused before Juventus general manager Damien Comolli replied: “We have a very good women’s team.”
“He’s being very diplomatic,” said Trump.
Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown — part of his “America First” policy — has meanwhile sparked fears that football fans will be discouraged from coming to the United States.
In May, Vice President JD Vance said that 2026 World Cup fans were “welcome to come… but when the time is up, they will have to go home.”
