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NEW
AFCON 2025
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Cristiano Ronaldo met with the American president Donald Trump at the White House.
The United States of America’s ‘White House’ social media account termed Cristiano Ronaldo the GOAT, following the Portugal international’s meeting with President Donald Trump.
The GOAT conversation is a sensitive one in football, and the White House appears to have taken a side after Ronaldo met with its primary occupant.
The social media post is particularly interesting as Ronaldo's direct rival for the title, Lionel Messi, plays in the USA, and has helped boost the profile of the sport in the country. At the same time, the Portuguese has publicly maligned the MLS to prop up the Saudi Pro League.
The high-profile meeting
Ronaldo attended a White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, where U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the East Room.
The event was a formal state dinner intended to strengthen the U.S.–Saudi ties and Ronaldo, seemingly part of the Saudi delegation, travelled to Washington with his fiancée, Georgina Rodríguez. He was seated among a high-profile guest list that included business leaders such as Apple’s Tim Cook and Elon Musk and other international figures.
During his remarks, Trump singled out Ronaldo, saying his son Barron is “a big fan,” and the White House footage showed Ronaldo and Georgina interacting with several guests (including a selfie with Elon Musk).
The diplomatic context of the meeting
Ronaldo is a central sporting figure in Saudi Arabia after joining Al-Nassr and publicly backing the kingdom’s wider sporting ambitions (including the 2034 World Cup bid).
There had been longstanding media speculation about why Ronaldo had not returned to the U.S. since 2016, tied to an old Las Vegas civil case that was dismissed in 2023, in which Ronaldo was accused by one Kathryn Mayorga of rape and sexual harassment.
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Ronaldo vehemently denied the claims in a statement from 2018, "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.” And in 2019, U.S. prosecutors said they will not bring criminal charges forward because the claims could not meet the required burden of proof threshold.
Ronaldo could return for his first match in the USA since 2014 even before the World Cup kicks off, as there have been reports of a friendly match between Portugal and the USMNT slated for the March international window.