Zohran Mamdani launches petition against Fifa's World Cup ticket pricing: 'An affront to the game'

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has launched a public petition against Fifa's use of dynamic pricing for World Cup tickets, telling The Guardian that it amounts to an "affront to the game."

Mamdani's rise from little-known state assemblyman to heavily favoured Democratic frontrunner for the mayoralty of the largest city in the United States has been one of the political stories of the year – not least because he identifies as a socialist, and has stumped for policies that most in his party either do not believe in, or are hesitant to support publicly.

Chief among Mamdani's focuses has been affordability – and in an exclusive interview with The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast set to drop on Thursday, he made clear that is the basis for his action against Fifa, which will stage next year's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"I have long been quite troubled by how the supposed stewards of the game have opted for profit time and time again at the expense of the people that love this game," said Mamdani. "And I think what is stunning to me is these demands that we are putting forward, they are just demands that go back to what [Fifa] has done in previous World Cups. And yet what they are seeing with the World Cup here in the United States, Mexico and Canada is the prospect of increasing their revenues up close to 400% compared to what they were in Qatar."

Mamdani dipped into World Cup history, saying that the last time the men's World Cup was held in the United States, in 1994, tickets could be had for less than $200. Indeed, Fifa in 1993 set a low-end ticket price of $25 (worth about $56 in 2025), with the most expensive ticket to the final going for $475 (worth about $1,000 in 2025). Fifa announced that ticket prices for group games in 2026 would start at $60 and hit $6,730 for the best seat at the final, but crucially those are the figures before dynamic pricing takes effect. Both are expected to rise considerably over the course of the multi-phase sales process, which began on Wednesday.

"There's just no chance for so many who love this game so much to actually be able to go and see this," Mamdani said. "This also has a real impact on the potential for the atmosphere of the World Cup and just how many fans will actually be there. Because so often the people who get the tickets quickest are not the ones who are actually the most eager to be there. They're the ones who are the most excited at the prospect of a profit."

Mamdani's petition calls for Fifa to end dynamic pricing for World Cup tickets, set aside 15% of tickets for local residents, and place a cap on the amount tickets are allowed to be resold for on Fifa's ticketing platform (Fifa will do this for games in Mexico due to local laws, but will not implement caps on its exchange for other World Cup games).

"I think that if you don't ask, you cannot win," Mamdani said. "I think there's still so many people who have not even heard of [this] affront to the game. And I'm hopeful just in the last few hours since we've launched this, thousands of people have added their names and we're going to keep making the case."

Mamdani shocked US politics when he won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, beating more prominent names, such as former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. However, his win has not been met with universal acclaim – including from his own party. Several prominent Democrats, including House minority leader and fellow New Yorker Hakeem Jeffries, have declined to endorse Mamdani as Cuomo has re-entered the race as an independent, alongside incumbent Eric Adams.

"Maybe they support dynamic pricing," Mamdani joked when asked why his victory has drawn pushback from some in his party. "There are an ever-growing number that are joining our campaign each and every day. And it's a campaign that started at 1%. Maybe if I had to characterise it in terms of a recent upset, maybe this is the Leicester City of campaigns. And so I think there are still many that we are introducing ourselves to, but I'm excited to earn their support."

Mamdani is a longtime football fan who has supported Arsenal since his childhood in Uganda, saying he had magnets of the team's Invincibles side of 2003–04 on his fridge. He offered the "contested point" that the Gunners are the most popular team in Uganda.

"[Former manager] Arsène Wenger was one of the first coaches to bring in a number of African players into the team," Mamdani said. "And some of my early memories are memories of Kanu, of Lauren, of Kolo Touré, of Emmanuel Eboué, Alex Song … it has been a real part of just my life and my identity and also my willingness to internally believe in that this is the year and this is the season. It's a good preparation for being a democratic socialist."

Mamdani acknowledged the possibility that, as New York City mayor, he could attend the 2026 World Cup final, where he would be sat near Donald Trump. Mamdani said he expects the US president would be booed, as he was at this year's US Open men's final.

"There's no amount of censorship that can quiet the actual response of people when they see this president in person, because we're talking about someone who is already attacking the very fabric of life in this city," he said. "It'll be a place where I will make the case once and again for the working-class New Yorkers that they're leaving behind."