On November 18, 2025, President Donald Trump welcomed Portuguese soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo to the Oval Office in a surprise ceremony that instantly went viral across the planet. Flanked by the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs and several members of the U.S. women’s national team, Trump presented Ronaldo with a gold-plated presidential medallion and a framed executive proclamation. “After careful consideration, exhaustive polling, and frankly the best statistics anyone has ever seen, I am today officially declaring Cristiano Ronaldo, the man they call CR7, the greatest soccer player of all time, period, no debate, case closed,” Trump announced, prompting Ronaldo to flash his trademark smile and raise both thumbs up while the Marine Band struck up “Sweet Caroline” in the song Ronaldo has used as his goal celebration for years.

The lighthearted but pointed declaration was clearly aimed at ending the endless Messi-Ronaldo rivalry once and for all on American soil. Trump, reading from the official parchment, cited Ronaldo’s five Ballon d’Or awards, record 900 career goals, Champions League scoring records, and “tremendous physical specimen, maybe the best the world has ever seen” as irrefutable evidence. When a reporter shouted a question about Lionel Messi’s eight Ballons d’Or, Trump interrupted: “Lionel is a fantastic guy, everybody loves Lionel, but he plays in Miami now, that’s our league, and even he knows the numbers don’t lie. Cristiano is the GOAT, and that’s now the official position of the United States government.” Ronaldo, speaking through an interpreter, thanked the president and joked, “Finally someone with the courage to say what the whole world already knows.”

The event drew immediate reactions ranging from ecstatic celebration in Portugal (where the government declared a half-day national holiday) to playful outrage in Argentina, where Buenos Aires street vendors began selling T-shirts reading “8 > 5.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed the proclamation carries no actual legal weight but has been entered into the Federal Register “for the record.” Sportsbooks immediately took down all remaining Messi-Ronaldo GOAT prop bets, and Nike shares rose 3 % in after-hours trading on news of the endorsement. Whether the debate is truly settled remains to be seen, but for one afternoon in Washington, the 45th and 47th president had spoken, and Cristiano Ronaldo left the White House wearing the unofficial but now presidentially certified crown as soccer’s greatest ever.