FIFA World Cup 2026 countdown: New York, New Jersey prepare
Alex Lasry, CEO of the NYNJ Host Committee, discusses the countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in New York and New Jersey. He details plans for free fan experiences across five boroughs and New Jersey, emphasizing public transit solutions for 1.2 million fans. Lasry confirms real grass will be installed at MetLife Stadium for the event, highlighting the global excitement for this major sporting event.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that the City of New York, in partnership with the NYNJ Host Committee, has secured 1,000 affordable tickets to the World Cup for New York residents that can be bought for $50 each.
At the time of publishing, the cheapest Ticketmaster listing for a MetLife Stadium group stage game was $535 for the Norway-Senegal match on June 22.
The ticket-holders will also receive free bus transportation to and from the stadium and New York — the committee had recently announced such a trip would cost $80, while NJ Transit tickets were originally $150 before private funding lowered them to just under $100.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed a proposal to tax luxury second homes owned by non-residents, targeting ultra-wealthy property owners. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“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 at a news conference in Harlem Thursday. “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 fifty dollars and a free bus ride. I’m proud that New York City is leading the way.”
“This program exists because the mayor was determined to make sure working New Yorkers would be in the stands when the World Cup comes home to New York,” said NYC World Cup czar Maya Handa. “A kid in the Bronx, a security guard in Queens, a restaurant worker in Brooklyn or Staten Island — they are going to walk into the stadium this summer because their city fought for them to be there.”
Transit officials are preparing for an unprecedented number of riders during World Cup matches this summer. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
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“Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to making the World Cup accessible to everyday New Yorkers … is exactly what it looks like when a city governs for the people,” added Council Member Yusef Salaam.
Tickets will be delivered to winners of a lottery system that runs from May 25 through May 29.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Mamdani’s announcement.
Mamdani has ripped the “absurd” World Cup prices in the past.
“What we’re seeing is that FIFA’s approach to the ticket process of the World Cup is both without precedent in their own administration of previous World Cups and is also an approach that will price out so many New Yorkers from actually being able to be in the stands,” he said last September.
Fireworks light up the sky over Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., before the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG on July 13, 2025. (Matt Slocum/AP)
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The tickets, which will not be allowed to be resold, will be divided among the first seven matches at MetLife before it hosts the final on July 19.
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