Bizarre claims that Donald Trump once played for Wolves FC go viral again after election triumph

Claims that president-elect Donald Trump once played in goal for Wolverhampton Wanderers at youth level have resurfaced following his election success – and fans are jokingly celebrating his victory as their own.

Many pundits had believed Tuesday’s (5 November) election was too close to call but as the votes were counted it was soon clear that Trump would easily surpass the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory and beat Democratic rival Kamala Harris to become America’s 47th president.

He won five of the seven key battleground states – with two still to declare – while the Republicans took back control of the senate and are well-placed to keep their grip on the house of representatives.

Following Trump’s triumph, which he said marked a “golden age of America”, a long-running urban legend about him started making the rounds again on social media: that in his youth he played for Wolves, a famous team based in England’s West Midlands, who now play in the top-tier Premier League.

The story, which first appeared in a November 1991 edition of Shoot!, a football magazine for young fans that has been published since 1969, claimed that Trump took part in a handful of matches while his father served at a nearby military base, and even went on to name a horse after the team’s home ground, Molineux.

“Billionaire tycoon Donald Trump once played six games in goal for Wolves’ youth team while his American Air Force father was based in the Midlands,” the report screamed.

“One of the racehorses at Trump’s New York stables is a three-year-old filly called Molineux Mayde.”

The story has never been verified and has almost as many holes in it as the former president’s much-vaunted wall on the US-Mexico border. For starters, Fred Trump, Donald’s father, did not serve in the military and the racehorse was called DJ Trump.

Regardless of how true the story is or not, football fans didn’t miss the opportunity to poke fun at the idea.

“Congratulations to former Wolves goalkeeper Donald Trump on winning the US election,” one X/Twitter user wrote. Another asked: “Is this our first win of the season?” noting that Wolves have had a poor start to their campaign.

Another tongue-in-cheek response was: “Can just imagine him when the opposition are about to take a free kick: ‘build a wall’.”

Referring to Wolves’ old-gold-coloured kit, someone else proclaimed: “Where his obsession with orange started!”

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