Mamdani Announces Special World Cup Ticket Prices And How to Win Sweepstakes in New Video
Some New Yorkers will get the chance to attend the 2026 FIFA World Cup for just $50.
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday the city will be holding a sweepstakes for 1,000 residents to receive $50 tickets.
Games available through the sweepstakes include five group stage and two knockout round contests at MetLife Stadium, according to the NYC mayor's office.
Winners will receive the $50 ticket alongside round-trip bus transportation to MetLife.
New York residents will be able to enter the lottery once per day from Monday, May 25th through Saturday, May 30. Those age 15 or older can enter until entries close each day at a cap of 50,000.
Randomly selected winners will be notified Wednesday, June 3. Each winner will be able to purchase up to two tickets, according to the mayor's office.
More information, including where to enter the lottery, can be found at NYC.gov.
Eight matches are set to take place in June and July at MetLife, starting with a five-game group stage slate featuring Brazil versus Morocco, France versus Senegal, Norway versus Senegal, Ecuador versus Germany and Panama versus England.
MetLife is also hosting elimination matches in the Round of 32 and Round of 16.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final, which is also taking place at the stadium, will not be part of the New York City lottery.
The cheapest get-in price for any of these matches sits as of Thursday around $459 for Norway versus Senegal, according to TicketData.com. Group stage games featuring Brazil and Ecuador currently feature get-in prices of at least $1,000.
Fans coming from New York City would also have to pay for public transportation to New Jersey, ranging from $98 for a NJ Transit train or $20 for a bus ticket.
These are lower than initially announced public transportation prices. Train and bus tickets were previously set to be sold for $150 and $80 each, respectively.
New York is the only one of the 16 World Cup host cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico to announce a ticket access program for residents, according to The Athletic's Adam Crafton.
Crafton reported that Mamdani originally brought up the ticket program during his March meeting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
The cost for the tickets will be taken on by the joint New York and New Jersey World Cup host committee, according to Crafton.
FIFA originally hesitated to approve the lottery "partially due to a wariness of creating a precedent whereby local politicians or stakeholders could seek to create their own resale markets," Crafton reported.
That may be part of the reason tickets will be distributed to winners at the bus boarding location on the day of each match, a method the mayor's office said was designed "to prevent scalping."
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will kick off in Mexico City on June 11. The first match in the New York City metro area will take place when Brazil and Morocco take the MetLife field on June 13.
