Claim: FIFA will repaint the 2026 World Cup trophy with red, white and blue stars and stripes, resembling the flag of the United States of America.
Conclusion: The claim is totally false. No official FIFA statement, press release, or credible news source supports any physical alteration of the iconic FIFA World Cup Trophy. Official pictures and news confirm that the FIFA World Cup 2026 trophy is golden in colour.
Rating: Totally false 
Social media users have claimed that FIFA has confirmed a repainting of the 2026 World Cup trophy. Instagram user ‘riches’ shared such a claim having two images with a part of the caption : “BREAKING: FIFA officially confirms that the 2026 World Cup trophy will be repainted in red, white, and blue stars and stripes to honor the United States as host country.” Attached to the post is an image showcasing the World Cup 2026 trophy in red, white and blue stars and stripes.
The claim further states that Vice President JD Vance said, ‘America is the world. The world is America. People keep getting that confused. This trophy clears it up.’ Moreover, the claim alleges that whichever team wins will have to recite the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance before lifting the cup. View the post below –
View this post on Instagram
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be totally false. No official FIFA statement, press release or credible media report indicates that the iconic FIFA World Cup Trophy has undergone physical redesign or repainting. Official images and reports related to the 2026 tournament continue to show the trophy in its traditional gold colour.
Details:
We first conducted a web search with the phrase “FIFA repaints 2026 World Cup in American colours” to learn more. However, we did not find any news reports or credible evidence from media outlets that confirm such a change. There are no statements from FIFA pertaining to repainting the colours to honour the host country, United States.
Following this, we checked FIFA’s official website and 2026 branding of the World Cup trophy to learn more. A FIFA report about the emblem launch published on May 18, 2023 notes that the FIFA World Cup 26™ Official Brand was unveiled on 17 May 2023 at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the “WE ARE 26” campaign “a rallying cry” to unite Canada, Mexico and the United States ahead of the tournament. unlike previous editions, “for the first time in history,” it features “an image of the actual trophy and the tournament hosting year,” creating what FIFA called “an innovative design language” for future tournaments. View this emblem below –
2026 #FIFAWorldCup Emblem: Launched ✅🔥#WeAre26 pic.twitter.com/IiKaQKRkS6
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) May 18, 2023
We also discovered that every host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has its own customized version of the tournament branding and emblem. However, we found no information about red, white and blue stars and stripes on the actual FIFA World Cup 2026 trophy.
Following this, we came across a report that sheds light on the Global Launch of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola. The report has embedded a Youtube video uploaded on the Coca-Cola channel, titled : “FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour presented by Coca-Cola in Vienna, Austria (2026).” The video dated January 9, 2026 clearly shows the trophy in golden colour and not the colours of the United States flag. View a screenshot of this below –
A report published by News on Air on January 11, 2026 states that the FIFA World Cup 2026 trophy was unveiled in India by Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya alongside former Brazilian footballer Gilberto D’silva as part of a three-day tour across the country. A recent report by CBC News published on 25 May, 2026 writes about how the FIFA World Cup trophy was unveiled in Toronto, Canada. The video in the CBC report clearly shows the FIFA World Cup trophy in golden colour. View a screenshot of this below –
DigitEYE found no comments by JD Vance saying “‘America is the world” or mentioning anything about the FIFA World Cup 2026 trophy. We downloaded the image of JD Vance from the claim and ran it through an AI detector. The results proved that the image is generated using AI, view the results –
Thus, the claim is totally false.
