Ronaldo was not the only soccer-related dinner guest, as Fifa chief Gianni Infantino made yet another appearance at the White House before the 2026 World Cup, which the US is co-hosting.
Ronaldo says next year’s World Cup – for which Portugal booked their place this week – will “definitely” be his last.
Also at the black-tie dinner was Space X and Tesla tycoon Musk, in a sign that the rift between the President and the world’s richest man has healed after their fiery public divorce.
South African-born Musk spent five months as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and accompanied Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia in May.
The relationship collapsed in July after Musk criticised Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” spending Bill and then said that the President was in investigatory files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump responded by threatening Musk with deportation.
Musk, wearing a tuxedo, was seen chatting to fellow guests at a candlelit table – although a different one from Trump’s.
During the dinner Trump also praised the Saudi Prince as a “man of leadership”, having earlier defended his royal visitor over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
– Agence France-Presse