2026 FIFA World Cup: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani set to unveil $50 ticket lottery for soccer fans - details here

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to announce on Thursday (local time) that a new batch of tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be offered to residents of all five New York City boroughs for $50 each.

The Guardian reported that the tickets, which will be available through a lottery system, will cover all matches at MetLife Stadium except for the final and will include return bus transport to the venue.

Read also | FIFA World Cup 2026 Schedule: Group List, Date, Venue, Match Timings in IST

Here’s everything you need to know about the initiative

Mayor Mamdani is set to unveil the plan in the Little Senegal neighborhood of Harlem in upper Manhattan, where he is likely to be accompanied by community leaders.

1,000 tickets are expected to be distributed through the initiative, with nearly 150 seats reserved for each of the seven matches. All tickets will be in the upper section of the 82,000-capacity MetLife Stadium.

Games that will be eligible under the program include five group stage matches (Brazil vs Morocco on 13 June, France vs Senegal on 16 June, Norway vs Senegal on 22 June, Ecuador vs Germany on 25 June and Panama vs England on 27 June), along with another round of 32 match on 30 June and a match on 5 July 16.

According to the report, Mamdani’s program is the first and only time a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city has offered its residents exclusive access to match tickets. The program also reflects a similar approach taken by Qatar during the 2022 tournament, where residents had access to discounted tickets.

Lottery System: Date and Time

The ticket lottery system will start on May 25 at 10:00 AM ET (19:30 IST) and will end on May 30 at 17:00 ET (2:30 IST the following day). A maximum of 50,000 people will have access to the lottery system per day. Winners will be able to purchase a maximum of two tickets each.

Additionally, the initiative will be positioned as a collaboration between Mamdani’s office and the NY/NJ host committee, rather than FIFA, which has faced criticism for using dynamic pricing amid widespread opposition.

Read also | FIFA: USA scraps $15,000 rule for ticket holders from qualifying countries

Ticket prices are a major concern ahead of FIFA matches

Ahead of next year’s World Cup, ticket costs have been a major point of contention, particularly for matches to be held in the New York-New Jersey region, where both ticket prices and transport costs have sparked opposition.

NJ Transit, which operates most of the bus and rail lines connecting New York City to MetLife Stadium, initially said a round-trip train fare from Penn Station would cost $150, much more than the standard fare of $13. The agency later reduced the price to $105 round trip, while bus tickets between the city and the stadium are expected to cost about $80 each.

FIFA earlier tried to address concerns about rising ticket prices by releasing a limited series of tickets for $60, which represented about 1.6 percent of the total inventory. While $60 was originally announced as the minimum ticket price for World Cup matches, dynamic pricing has since pushed costs into the hundreds of dollars for each game in the tournament.

Mamdani criticizes FIFA

In September 2025, Zohran Mamdani, a longtime soccer fan who focused on affordability in his mayoral campaign, criticized FIFA for skyrocketing ticket prices. He argued that the organization was prioritizing profit instead of ensuring that the tournament remained accessible and welcoming to all fans.

At one of his campaign events in September, Mamdani said: “For so many people who love the game so much, there’s just no way to go see it,” adding: “It also has a real impact on the potential of the World Cup atmosphere and how many fans will actually be there. Because the people who get tickets the fastest are often not the ones who are actually the most in demand to make a profit.”

As ticket prices continue to rise ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Mamdani’s initiative is expected to provide local football fans with a rare and affordable opportunity.