FIFA responds to Zohran Mamdani’s World Cup ticket price demands

FIFA responded to New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani’s campaign to get soccer’s global governing body to drop its plan for dynamic pricing for next year’s World Cup, jointly being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

The Democrat socialist launched a petition Tuesday night that he called “Game Over Greed” and demanded FIFA not use the pricing model, cap resale ticket prices and put aside 15 percent of tickets at a discounted rate for local residents. 

In a statement provided to The Post on Wednesday, a FIFA spokesperson defended dynamic pricing as a “developing market practice” and said that it would be setting aside tickets for “specific fan categories” that will be at a “fixed price.” 

“The pricing model adopted generally reflects the existing and developing market practice in our co-hosts for major entertainment and sporting events on a daily basis, soccer included,” the spokesperson said. “We are focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing but also prospective fans, and are offering group stage tickets starting at $60, a very competitive price point for a major global sporting event in the U.S.”

In a video posted to social media on Tuesday night, Mamdani expressed concerns that tickets to World Cup matches — in particular ones taking place at MetLife Stadium — would be resold at an exorbitant rate on an official FIFA-run secondary market ticket platform. 

And the mayoral frontrunner accused FIFA of using the World Cup as “opportunities for profit, as opposed to opportunities to extend this to the people who make this game so special” during a press conference at St. James Park in The Bronx on Wednesday. 

The 33-year-old state assemblyman representing Queens said the petition has already drawn thousands of signatures after it went live on his campaign website Tuesday night. 

Wednesday marked the start of the ticket pre-sale signup window for the 2026 World Cup, which will have eight matches, including the final, take place at MetLife Stadium next summer. 

FIFA confirmed earlier this month that it would be using dynamic pricing for the 2026 World Cup, with the cheapest ticket prices for the group stage starting at $60 and reaching up to $6,730 for the priciest ticket for the final, which MetLife Stadium is hosting. 

Soccer’s governing body is expected to rake in $3 billion from ticket sales from the 2026 World Cup, The Athletic reported. 

The spokesperson for FIFA insisted that the official resale platform allowed fans a “safe and secure method” to sell and buy tickets within the bounds of U.S. law. 

They also described it as “necessary to have a ticketing model that reflects our responsibility to provide access to fans, while at the same time ensuring as much value as possible is retained for redistribution into the game globally.”

“It is important to note, as a not-for-profit organization, the revenue FIFA generates from the World Cup is reinvested to fuel the growth of the game (men, women, youth) throughout FIFA’s 211 member associations globally,” the spokesperson continued. “As a matter of fact, FIFA expects to reinvest more than 90 percent of its budgeted investments for the cycle 2023-2026 back in the game to significantly boost global football development.

“Without FIFA’s financial support more than 50 percent of FIFA’s Member Associations could not operate.”