Prices for the 2026 World Cup have come under intense scrutiny, with New York’s mayor cutting back on the limited number of tickets available.
Published May 21, 2026
Some lucky New York City residents will soon have the chance to score cheap tickets to this summer’s big-ticket World Cup.
Mayor Zoran Mamdani announced Thursday that residents of the city of more than 8 million people will be offered 1,000 tickets for $50 to the world’s most-watched sporting event.
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“To put it in perspective, that’s the equivalent of five lattes in New York City,” Mamdani joked at a bar in Harlem’s Little Senegal neighborhood with U.S. men’s national team star Timothy Ware.
The tickets will be available for seven of the eight games played at New Jersey’s 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium, just across the river from Manhattan. The only exception is the high-demand finals on July 19, where some seats will cost nearly $33,000.
Tickets also include a free round-trip bus ride to the stadium and will be distributed by lottery starting May 25th.
Mamdani said the city is ensuring that the tickets it distributes go to New York City residents and are not resold on the secondary market because of persistent concerns about the rising price of game tickets.
He said tickets are non-transferable and that city officials use “various methods” to verify residency. Tickets will only be distributed directly to fans riding the bus on game day.
“We’re making sure working people don’t pay for the games they helped create,” Mamdani said.
The Democrat, who took office in January, said the effort highlights that his administration is not just focused on making everyday items like housing and food more affordable.
“It extends to allowing all New Yorkers to participate in what makes us human,” he says.
During his campaign, Mamdani called on FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, to make it cheaper for New Yorkers to attend games by setting aside 15% of tickets at a discount. He had started a petition calling on FIFA to scrap plans to set ticket prices based on demand.
The mayor’s office said the $50 tickets will not come directly from FIFA, but from tickets allocated to the joint committee for the New York and New Jersey games.
Previously, FIFA had offered tickets for all North American games for around $60 after a backlash over exorbitant prices.
However, these discounted tickets will be sent to the national federations of the playing teams, who will then decide how to distribute them to loyal fans who have attended past matches, home and away.
In addition to the finals, the home stadiums of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets will host five World Cup group games and two knockout stage games. Group stage matches between defending champions Brazil, France, Germany, England and other countries begin on June 13th.
