The FIFA World Cup kicks off in less than three weeks, and starting Monday, New Yorkers will have a chance to get seats for just $50.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week that 1,000 tickets will become available at $50 apiece as part of a lottery. It opens at 10 a.m. Monday and runs for six days.
“To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City,” Mamdani quipped from a bar in Harlem’s Little Senegal neighborhood alongside U.S. men’s national team forward Timothy Weah.
A maximum of 50,000 people can enter per day. Once the lottery hits that mark, it closes until 10 a.m. the following day. You have to be 15 or older to enter, and there’s just one entry per person.
The program covers the five group- stage matches and two knockout-round matches, with about 150 tickets allocated per game. So no tickets for the July 19 final. You have to be at least 15 years old to enter.
Randomly selected winners will be notified by email on June 3. If you win, you’ve got 48 hours to buy two $50 tickets. You can’t pick them up, though, until the day of the match — and that pick-up has to be in person.
Winners will be offered free round-trip bus service to their matches. Tickets are non-transferable in order to prevent scalping, and Mamdani said the city would be taking steps to ensure the ones they distribute go to New York City residents and are not resold on the secondary market. The tickets will also only be handed out directly to the fans as they board the bus on game day.
“We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create,” Mamdani said. Here’s where to enter.
The Athletic reported that Mamdani earned the concession in a meeting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino back in March. Learn more here.
“A World Cup is coming to our backyard, and we want to ensure working-class New Yorkers have the opportunity to be part of it,” Mamdani said in a statement. “We sat down with the Host Committee to make certain this tournament belongs to the people who make this city what it is. Today, 1,000 New Yorkers are going to get into those stands for $50 dollars and a free bus ride. I’m proud that New York City is leading the way.”
The Democrat, who took office in January, said the effort underscores how his administration is not simply focused on making everyday things like housing and groceries more affordable.
“It extends to making it possible for every New Yorker to take part 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% of tickets at discounted prices for residents. He’d also launched a petition calling on FIFA to reverse its plan to set ticket prices based on demand.
The $50 tickets don’t come directly from FIFA, but from those allotted to New York and New Jersey’s joint host committee for the games, according to the mayor’s office.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
0 Comments