The complaints about skyrocketing FIFA World Cup ticket prices are all over the internet. These prices have reached the point that even Washington lawmakers have looked into FIFA to reduce the costs. While that’s a disappointment, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani might have some good news for soccer fans: his latest deal with FIFA could offer them a huge discount, but only if luck is on their side.
Yes, in current times, when tickets are easily exceeding the $1,000 price tag, the people of NYC can expect a 97% discount! According to the Daily Mail, the most affordable World Cup tickets at MetLife are going for around $1,800 for the Norway-Senegal game. But the mayor has just announced that lucky fans can attend the games for just $50. Due to his deal with FIFA, Mamdani has gathered around 1,000 tickets for the New York City residents.
MetLife Stadium will host a total of 8 World Cup games, and for 7 of them, up to 150 $50 tickets will be available to New York City residents per match. While that’s how those 1,000 tickets will be divided among the New Yorkers, how does luck play a part here? Well, the city is home to around 8 million residents. As a result, ticket holders will be selected by lottery, and if they win, those lucky fans can live their soccer dreams for the cost of just “five lattes in New York City,” per Zohran Mamdani.
Just a thousand tickets for millions of people? Good luck with that
Just 1,000 tickets for a multi-million audience may sound like a deal breaker to many, but it’s not like New York City bought the tickets itself. Per the mayor’s office, these $50 tickets were actually donated from a pool of tickets allotted to the New York-New Jersey host committee. They don’t appear to be coming from taxpayer money or anything, but are rather a donation that will be distributed among residents through a lottery beginning on May 25.
The audience was also worried that these tickets could potentially get resold at a much higher price. Sound’s like a valid concern, but the mayor’s office reassured that these lottery World Cup tickets will be non-transferable, which could put a full stop to this problem. Zohran Mamdani also said, “We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create.”
It looks like the 112th mayor of New York City may have brought relief to some fans who were about to cancel their World Cup plans because of insane ticket prices. However, some audience is still unhappy per the outlet, with one of them saying, “You didn’t get cheaper tickets for New Yorkers, you started a contest to win cheaper tickets. What kind of narcissistic BS is this?”
While that sounds harsh, some supported the mayor as well and wrote, “Somehow MAGA is gonna find a way to hate on this. Best mayor in generations, exactly the kind of leadership this city needs.” Well, the audience does seem divided, but Mamdani’s office has already addressed a couple of misconceptions. The idea of 1,000 tickets being distributed among millions of people sounds like a dealbreaker, but imagine being the lucky one whose name is called.
Published: May 22, 2026 12:00 pm