Donald Trump’s presence at sporting events has become soing of a curse for American teams, with a pattern of losses following presidential appearances that has fans and athletes taking notice. Whether coincidence or cosmic intervention, the trend is undeniable: when the 47th president shows up to support a team, defeat often follows.
The most recent example came during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when Trump personally intervened with FIFA president Gianni Infantino to overturn a suspension for USA forward Folarin Balogun before the crucial match against Belgium. The decision was reversed with little explanation, but the outcome proved disastrous. Balogun underwhelmed on the pitch, and a fired up Belgian squad eliminated the United States from the tournament, joining co-hosts Canada and Mexico in an early exit that marked one of the most disappointing World Cup performances in American soccer history.
Trump’s athletic interests stretch back to his high school football days and evolved through decades as a business mogul who promoted boxing matches and owned a team in the defunct United States Football League during the 1980s. As a native New Yorker and avid golfer who owns multiple world class courses, he was a regular courtside fixture at Madison Square Garden for New York Knicks games before entering politics. His obsession with winning, however, has not translated into good fortune for the teams he champions.
A month before the World Cup debacle, Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, an appearance that caused widespread inconvenience with road closures and heightened security measures throughout Manhattan. Inside the arena, he was booed by the crowd, though he later claimed the jeers were actually cheers. At one point during the game, cameras caught him appearing to doze off. The Knicks lost that night, snapping an impressive 13 game playoff winning streak, though unlike the World Cup team, they at least had additional games to recover.
The pattern extends further back through a catalog of presidential appearances and endorsements gone wrong. Just before the 2026 Super Bowl, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft spent time with Trump, only to watch his team fall to the Seattle Seahawks when game day arrived. In February of that year, during the 4 Nations Face Off hockey tournament serving as a precursor to the Winter Olympics, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform attempting to motivate Team USA toward victory in the finals against Canada, while repeating his controversial proposal to annex Canada as the 51st state. The Americans lost, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quip that Trump could take neither their country nor their national game. Trump made history as the first sitting president to attend an NFL championship game at the 2025 Super Bowl, where he publicly backed Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, declaring he had everything needed to win. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. Months earlier, in September 2025, Trump visited Team USA at the Ryder Cup on Long Island, where the Americans were trailing Team Europe. Despite a spirited late comeback, the United States fell short once again.
For sports fans navigating the superstitious world of athletic competition, the lesson appears clear: if your favorite team faces an opponent that Trump happens to be supporting, the odds may have shifted in your favor. Whether this remarkable string of defeats represents statistical anomaly, the weight of distraction, or soing more inexplicable, athletes and coaches might quietly hope the president directs his enthusiasm elsewhere. As Trump continues his second term with no apparent plans to curtail his sports fandom, teams across America may find themselves in the awkward position of hoping their most powerful supporter stays home on game day.
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