The US Secretary of State and the Portuguese soccer player also met with high-level figures from politics, business and sports.
MIAMI, United States. – The Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, met last Tuesday at the White House, during the gala dinner that President Donald Trump offered to the Crown Prince and Saudi Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), in the East Room of the presidential mansion in Washington.
The act brought together high-level figures of politics, business and sport, including Ronaldo himself, Rubio and the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, at a key moment for the Washington-Riyadh relationship and for the organization of the 2026 World Cup.
Photographs distributed by international agencies show Rubio and the Portuguese forward listening to Trump’s speeches during dinner in the East Room.
The dinner capped a high-profile day in Washington, marked by MBS’s official visit and announcements of Saudi investments worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the US economy, as well as the discussion of a new strategic defense agreement and the designation of Saudi Arabia as a “major non-NATO ally.” according to US media reviews which White House sources cited.
For the Cuban public it has additional meaning that the head of US diplomacy in that scene is Rubio, a Republican politician of Cuban origin.
The Trump-Ronaldo meeting at the White House
Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence at the dinner was preceded by a smaller meeting with Trump at the White House. In the images released, the president and the soccer player are seen inside the Oval Office, as well as walking and talking, accompanied by Georgina Rodríguez, in the west colonnade of the building.
The White House also published a short video of Trump and Ronaldo walking laughing along the colonnade, accompanied by the text “Two GOATS. CR7 x 45/47”, a nod to the English expression “GOAT” (“greatest of all time”, the best of all time), which is usually used to refer to great sports figures.
During the dinner in honor of MBS, Trump dedicated part of his speech to highlighting the presence of the Portuguese forward. The president pointed out that his youngest son is a fan of the player: “You know that my son is a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo (…). Barron was able to meet him and I think he now respects his father a little more, just because I introduced him,” he stated amid laughter from those presentbefore adding: “Thank you for being here, it is an honor.”
Ronaldo: praise for Trump before meeting face to face
Ronaldo’s appearance at the White House came shortly after the footballer himself expressed his admiration for Trump in an interview with British presenter Piers Morgan. The captain of Al-Nassr called the American president “one of the guys who can help change the world” and stressed that “one of the most important people is the president of the United States.”
Along the same lines, Ronaldo explained that he wanted to meet with Trump: “He is one of the guys with whom I would like to sit down and have a good conversation (…). I know he was here in Saudi Arabia with our boss, MBS. I hope that one day we can meet, because he is one of those people who can make things happen and I like people like that,” he declared in that interview, according to those same sources.
Months before the meeting in Washington, the Portuguese star had already sent a symbolic gesture to Trump. European and Asian sports media reported that, during the G7 summit held in Canada last June, the American president received a Portugal national team jersey signed by Ronaldo, presented by Portuguese leader Antonio Costa. Some chronicles cited the handwritten message as “To President Donald J. Trump, Playing for Peace,” while others transcribed it as “To President Donald J Trump. Praying for peace.” In both cases, the content alluded to a call for peace amid tensions in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia and the 2026 World Cup
Ronaldo’s presence in the saudi delegation reinforces MBS’s commitment to using football as an instrument of international projection. Since 2023, the striker has been playing for the Saudi club Al-Nassr with a multimillion-dollar contract and has become one of the faces of the kingdom’s ambitious sports project, something that various media have linked to the Saudi strategy of improving its global image.
Ronaldo’s trip to Washington also coincided with preparations for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the days before the dinner, Trump met at the White House with his “task force” for the World Cup and with the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, a meeting in which the “FIFA Pass” program was announced, aimed at speeding up visa interviews for fans with official tickets, as explained by the administration itself and detailed the Reuters agency.
At that meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned foreign fans that a match ticket is not equivalent to an entry permit. “Don’t wait until the last minute,” he said, before insisting: “Your entry is not your visa. It does not guarantee admission to the United States. It guarantees an expedited appointment.”
The coincidence of Rubio and Ronaldo in the White House is part of a broader context in which the head of US diplomacy has taken on a notable role in Trump’s foreign agenda, including Latin America. Rubio, the son of Cubans who emigrated in 1956 and became naturalized Americans in 1975, was a senator from Florida before being unanimously confirmed as secretary of state in early 2025.
