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

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

The Guardian reported that the tickets, which will be made available via a lottery system, will cover all matches at MetLife Stadium except the final, and will also include round-trip bus transportation to the venue.

Through this initiative, it is expected that 1,000 tickets will be distributed, with nearly 150 seats set aside for each of the seven matches. All tickets will be in the upper-tier section of the 82,000-capacity MetLife Stadium.

The games that will be eligible under the programme include five group-stage games (Brazil v Morocco on June 13, France v Senegal on June 16, Norway v Senegal on June 22, Ecuador v Germany on June 25, and Panama v England on June 27), along with an additional Round of 32 game on June 30 and a Round of 16 game on July 5.

According to the report, Mamdani's programme marks the first and only time a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has offered its residents exclusive access to match tickets. The programme also echoes a similar approach that Qatar took during the 2022 tournament, where residents were given access to discounted tickets.

Additionally, the initiative will be positioned as a collaboration between Mamdani's office and the NY/NJ host committee, and not with FIFA, which has faced criticism for utilising dynamic pricing amid widespread backlash.

NJ Transit, which manages most bus and rail services connecting New York City to MetLife Stadium, originally said a round-trip train fare from Penn Station would be priced at $150, far above the standard $13 fare. The agency later reduced the price to $105 for a return trip, while bus tickets between the city and the stadium are projected to cost about $80 each.

FIFA previously attempted to address concerns over rising ticket prices by releasing a limited batch of $60 tickets, which accounted for roughly 1.6 per cent 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 every game in the tournament.

At one of his campaign events in September, Mamdani said, "There’s just no chance for so many who love this game so much to actually be able to go and see this," and added, "This also has a real impact on the potential for the atmosphere of the World Cup and just how many fans will actually be there. Because so often, the people who get the tickets quickest are not the ones who are actually the most eager to be there. They’re the ones who are the most excited at the prospect of a profit.”

With ticket prices continuing to rise ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Mamdani’s initiative is expected to provide a rare, affordable opportunity for local football fans.