New York Mayor Mamdani announces lottery for 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets

Some lucky New York City residents will soon have the chance to snag cheap seats to this summer’s pricey 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that 1,000 tickets worth $50 will be made available to residents of the city of more than 8 million for the most watched sporting event in the world.

“To put that in perspective, that’s five lattes in New York City,” Mamdani joked from a bar in Harlem’s Little Senegal neighborhood alongside American forward Timothy Weah.

Approximately 150 tickets per game will be made available for seven of the eight games played at the approximately 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium, located across the river from Manhattan, New Jersey. The only exception is the high demand of the July 19 final, where some seats now cost almost $33,000.

The tickets also include free round-trip bus transportation to the stadium for ticket holders, the mayor said. They will be distributed via a lottery from May 25.

To prevent scalping, Mamdani said the city would take steps to ensure that the products they distribute go to New York City residents and are not resold on the secondary market.

He said the tickets will not be transferable and there will be “several ways” city officials will verify residency. They will also only be handed out directly to fans when they board the bus on match day.

“We are making sure that working people are not priced out of the game they helped create,” Mamdani said.

The Democrat, who took office in January, said the effort underscores how his administration isn’t just focused on making everyday things like housing and groceries more affordable.

“It extends to making it possible for every New Yorker to participate in the things that make us human,” he said.

During his campaign, Mamdani had called on FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to make it cheaper for New Yorkers to attend the games by setting aside 15 percent of discounted tickets for residents. He had also launched a petition calling on FIFA to reverse its plan to set ticket prices based on demand.

The $50 tickets did not come directly from FIFA, but from tickets allocated to the joint New York-New Jersey host committee for the games, the mayor’s office said.

FIFA had previously made around $60 worth of tickets available for each match at the tournament in North America after facing backlash over exorbitant ticket prices.

However, those reduced-price tickets went to the national federations of the teams playing in the matches, with those federations deciding how to hand them out to loyal fans who had attended previous matches at home and away.

In addition to the championship game, the home stadium of both the New York Giants and the New York Jets of the NFL will host five World Cup group games and two knockout games. The group stage matches for football powerhouses Brazil, France, Germany and England, along with other countries, start on June 13.

Published on May 21, 2026