At State Dinner, Trump Highlights His Son’s Admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo

Cris­tiano Ronal­do joined Trump and oth­er key inter­na­tion­al fig­ures dur­ing a high-pro­file

WASHINGTON, DC: Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trumphost­ed a high-pro­file White House din­ner on Tues­day, Novem­ber 19, where glob­al fig­ures from pol­i­tics, sports and busi­ness gath­ered for an evening that drew wide atten­tion

Among the most notable guests was soc­cer super­star Cris­tiano Ronal­do, who attend­ed the event along­side Sau­di Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Trump opened the din­ner by acknowl­edg­ing the star-stud­ded room, call­ing it a gath­er­ing of “the biggest lead­ers in the world” from busi­ness and sports. He then paused to high­light Ronaldo’s pres­ence, draw­ing applause from atten­dees.

Trump shares moment between Barron and Cristiano Ronaldo 

Dur­ing his remarks, Trump shared a per­son­al sto­ry involv­ing his youngest son, Bar­ron Trump. “You know my son is a big fan of Cris­tiano Ronal­do,” he said, smil­ing as the room react­ed. “Bar­ron got to meet him and I think he respects his father a lit­tle bit more now.” The moment drew laugh­ter across the East Room

Trump thanked Ronal­do for attend­ing and praised his glob­al influ­ence. With more than 950 career goals and con­tract with Sau­di Pro League club Al Nassr, Ronal­do remains one of the world’s most rec­og­niz­able ath­letes. He con­tin­ues to draw atten­tion wher­ev­er he appears, and his pres­ence at the White House added a rare sport­ing high­light to a for­mal diplo­mat­ic evening. 

Cru­cial­ly, his atten­dance was tied to his role as a cul­tur­al ambas­sador for the Sau­di King­dom, as he accom­pa­nied Sau­di Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to sup­port the evening’s diplo­mat­ic focus on strength­en­ing ties between Wash­ing­ton and Riyadh

A star-studded guest list adds to Trump’s moment

Ronal­do was not alone in rep­re­sent­ing the world of sports. FIFA pres­i­dent Gian­ni Infan­ti­no also attend­ed the din­ner, con­tin­u­ing his fre­quent vis­its to Wash­ing­ton ahead of the 2026 World Cup co-host­ed by the Unit­ed States.

From the busi­ness world, tech exec­u­tives Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were among the high-pro­file guests. Musk, dressed in a tuxe­do, was seen con­vers­ing with atten­dees at one of the can­dlelit tables, while Bezos arrived short­ly after cam­eras began rolling.

Their atten­dance high­light­ed the administration’s reach across dif­fer­ent sec­tors and added to the range of notable fig­ures at the event.

Senior admin­is­tra­tion mem­bers also filled the room, includ­ing Vice Pres­i­dent JD Vance, Sec­ond Lady Usha Vance, Sec­re­tary of State Mar­co Rubio and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Speak­er Mike John­son and First Lady Mela­nia Trump were also present.

The din­ner dou­bled as a diplo­mat­ic sig­nal of strength­ened ties between Wash­ing­ton and Riyadh. Trump praised Mohammed bin Salman as a “man of lead­er­ship,” reit­er­at­ing his con­fi­dence in the crown prince’s role on the world stage.

Ronaldo’s atten­dance added a glob­al touch to the event and aligned with Trump’s mes­sage of unit­ing lead­ers from dif­fer­ent fields.

To Trump, the blend of polit­i­cal, sports and busi­ness guests high­light­ed what he sees as America’s renewed inter­na­tion­al influ­ence. The evening ulti­mate­ly served as both a cel­e­bra­tion and a state­ment of the administration’s grow­ing net­work of glob­al part­ner­ships