DALLAS — Donald Trump is finally set to make an appearance at the World Cup by attending Sunday’s final featuring Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

Apart from his intervention in the red-card controversy involving United States (US) forward Folarin Balogun, the US president has stayed away from the expanded tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico and has not attended a single match so far.

Fears that the World Cup would be overshadowed by Trump have not materialised.

But on Sunday, at the final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there will be no avoiding the world’s most powerful man.

Trump will not merely stand alongside Fifa President Gianni Infantino and, together with other representatives of world football, shake hands and offer congratulations, as has been customary in the past.

Just over a month after his 80th birthday, Trump is set to present the golden trophy to the captain of the winning team – either Argentina’s Messi or Spain’s Rodri – Fifa President Gianni Infantino has said.

Infantino created a Fifa Peace Prize for Trump and, with much fanfare during the World Cup draw, presented the politician with a golden trophy and a medal, which Trump placed around his own neck.

“This is one of the greatest honours of my life,” Trump said at the time.

A replica of the World Cup trophy stands in the White House and, strictly speaking, so does the original Club World Cup trophy.

When Trump asked Fifa when it would collect the trophy displayed in the Oval Office from the tournament held last summer, he said he was told: “You can keep it forever. We’ll make a new one.”

Trump’s phone call to Infantino, in which he suggested reviewing the red card shown to striker Balogun, was the biggest controversy of this World Cup, even though Trump and Infantino insisted that the Fifa president had nothing to do with the decision to overturn the suspension.