Mamdani secures $50 World Cup tickets for New Yorkers after negotiations with Infantino

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7296455/2026/05/21/mamdani-world-cup-tickets-fifa-wenger/

https://web.archive.org/web/20260521123307/https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7296455/2026/05/21/mamdani-world-cup-tickets-fifa-wenger/


Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, during a FIFA World Cup 2026 event in April Bloomberg/Getty Images

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured a rare concession from FIFA after negotiating 1,000 tickets to matches at the upcoming World Cup finals priced at $50, which will be distributed by ballot to local residents. The 1,000 tickets will be split across games played at MetLife Stadium in neighboring New Jersey, including five group-stage fixtures, a round of 32 tie and a round of 16 game, but not the final on July 19.

It is the only citywide access program of this kind that has so far been announced for the tournament, which will be hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico this June and July. The $50 seats are the cheapest available for fans to purchase through the primary ticket market at the World Cup. Buyers will also receive free round-trip bus travel to attend. The tickets will be apportioned via a ballot and will only be available to New York City residents, following on from Mamdani’s campaign demand during his mayoral run for locals to be given greater access by FIFA to this summer’s tournament.

In an interview with The Athletic in October, Mamdani said FIFA’s unprecedentedly high World Cup ticket prices “threaten to price out the very people that make this game so special.” He said he considered intervention by politicians to be necessary, adding that “it is the place of leaders to step up when we see profit as the only motive, to an extent where so many who used to attend these very events can now not even conceive of doing so”.



The Athletic has learned, via sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations, that Mamdani raised the issue directly with FIFA president Gianni Infantino during a meeting at City Hall in Manhattan in March — a meeting in which Mamdani, a lifelong fan of new Premier League champions Arsenal, was also introduced via FaceTime to Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA’s chief of global development.

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