Fact check: Trump wasn't edited out of Spain World Cup photo

Published 21 July 2026 · sports

After Spain won the FIFA World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation posted a photo of the trophy celebrations, raising questions about whether Donald Trump had

After Spain won the FIFA World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation posted a photo of the trophy celebrations, raising questions about whether Donald Trump had been edited out. We took a closer look. Several posts have been circulating online claiming that US President Donald Trump was edited out of a photo posted by the Spanish Football Federation on its social media accounts. Claim: One post on the social media platform X gained more than 11 million views while making the same claim. "Lol Spain edited Trump out of the photo," the caption read.

DW Fact-check: False Fans waited for the arrival of players from Spain's national soccer team during celebrations in Madrid on Monday, July 20, 2026 Image: Manu Fernandez/AP Photo/picture alliance The claim is false. The image is neither AI-generated nor altered. We found multiple pieces of evidence online debunking the claim. There are several videos of Spain's trophy-lifting ceremony available online. In this video, Trump can be seen standing on the podium after handing the FIFA World Cup trophy to the victorious Spanish team, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Shortly afterwards, Infantino moves to the left while Trump moves towards the right side of the podium.

However, as soon as Infantino realizes that Trump is in the frame, he rushes over to him, seemingly telling him to give the players some space. Several photographers can be seen taking pictures in the foreground. The photo in question was cropped slightly, which removed Trump and Infantino from the frame, perhaps to focus on the team. Trump was standing some distance away from the players and is therefore not visible in the image. But he was not edited out. This is the same image provided by the photo agency Picture Alliance Image: Newscom/picture alliance We found the same photo on Picture Alliance (and Newscom,) a photo agency that has distributed images throughout the championship.

Another picture from the same moment was published by the news agency Reuters, but from a different perspective. In this image, taken from a higher angle, Trump and Infantino can clearly be seen standing to the side of the winning team. Reuters provided this picture, capturing the same moment from a different perspective Image: Brian Snyder/REUTERS (Andreas Wisskirchen contributed to this piece.)