There are few things more American than the NFL and American football in general, but United States President Donald Trump seems to think Americans have it wrong.
While speaking alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino at a recent event in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Trump questioned why soccer isn’t simply referred to as “football” in the United States.
“When you look at what has happened to football in the United States – soccer in the United States – we seem to never call it that because we have a little bit of a conflict with another thing that’s called football,” Trump said.
Wow: President Donald Trump wants the NFL to change its name so that soccer is the only sport named football.
“This is football, there is no question about it. We have to come up with another name for the NFL stuff.”
😬😬😬 pic.twitter.com/uxJMsG0oQd
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 2, 2026
He didn’t stop there, going on to suggest that the United States should fall in line with the rest of the world and adopt “football” as the official name for soccer. Trump even entertained the possibility of rebranding the NFL entirely.
“But when you think about it, shouldn’t it really be called [football]?” Trump said, referring to soccer. “I mean, this is football, there’s no question about it,” Trump said. “We have to come up with another name for the NFL stuff.”
Infantino, who was standing on the stage with Trump, could be heard excitedly chiming in with a “yes, yes!” in agreement.
“Because it doesn’t really make sense when you think about it. It is really football,” Trump said.
Unsurprisingly, the remarks quickly sparked a wave of reactions across social media as people expressed their outrage.
“Trump focused on the important issues of the day,” one person wrote in a post on X.
“This is what he’s worried about? Does he know about the war he started?” someone else asked.
“This is the worst thing Trump has ever said,” another person wrote.
“He’s finally gone too far for MAGA,” someone else suggested.
“I love that he’s only saying this because FIFA gave him a fake peace award,” another person wrote.
Of course, it’s highly unlikely that any real change comes from the comments, but it’s still notable that a sitting president casually suggested changing the name of the most iconic sports league in the country.