Juventus star Timothy Weah has revealed he was forced to attend a ‘weird’ meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
The Italian giants are in the US as part of the Club World Cup, getting their group campaign off to a winning start with a 5-0 victory over Al Ain in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Before the game, the squad and staff visited the Oval Office, lining up behind Trump‘s desk in front of the press.
What followed was a series of awkward exchanges as Trump grilled the squad on a number of issues, including the subject of transgender women in sport.
Juve midfielder and USA international Weston McKennie was seen looking to his countryman Weah for help after being asked ‘could a women make your team, fellas?’
McKennie was rescued when Manuel Locatelli broke a brief period of uncomfortable silence saying, ‘Yeah.’
Weah, son of the legendary George Weah, later revealed he did not want to attend the 16-minute summit.
‘It was all a surprise to me, honestly — they told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go so I showed up,’ Weah told reporters after the 5-0 win later that day.
‘I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it’s kind of like, I just want to play football man.’
His Juventus and USA teammate McKennie meanwhile has previously criticised Trump during his first term following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
‘I don’t think that Trump is the right one for the job as the president,’ he told Bild.
‘I stand by these words. I believe he doesn’t understand the responsibility he has for the entire country. I think he’s ignorant. I don’t support him a bit. I don’t think he’s a man to stand by his word. In my eyes, you can call him racist.’
Trump signed the controversial and hugely divisive ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ executive order in February after campaigning heavily on the issue in 2024.
The order prompted the National Collegiate Athletic Association to change its gender eligibility policy to only permit biological females to compete in the women’s category.
