Inside Donald Trump’s short-lived soccer career as former coach’s assessment revealed
· Yahoo Sports
Donald Trump’s looming presence around the 2026 World Cup comes with an unexpected soccer backstory.
The US President did not just step into the sport through FIFA events or politics. He also had a brief playing career at New York Military Academy in the 1960s.
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There is not much grandeur to it, though. In fact, the real story is far less dramatic than any myth-making might suggest.
Donald Trump’s NYMA soccer story is smaller than the mythology
Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty ImagesTrump featured as a full-back or half-back for NYMA in the 1963/64 season, according to match records.
That connection is real, but it does not mean he was a notable player. The team finished 3-8 that year, despite claims from a former teammate that they were unbeaten.
And while there have been stories about him captaining the side, Javier Angel Sustaeta was the one actually named captain.
Former coach’s assessment makes the World Cup twist even stranger
The clearest view of Trump as a player comes from Paul Curtin, whose father coached the team. He recalled that his dad saw Trump as a decent athlete who listened to instructions.
It is a positive description, but not an extraordinary one. Trump’s role was to cover ground, protect the goal and move the ball on, the kind of tasks given to any solid school defender.
That is what makes the link to 2026 so odd. Trump’s on-pitch career was thoroughly unremarkable, yet now, as a political figure, he is tied to one of the sport’s biggest stages.
He was not a hidden soccer talent. He was an average player who, decades later, finds himself impossible for the game to ignore.