Mayor Zohran Mamdani used the announcement of a free World Cup watch party in Central Park to go after President Trump, arguing that the president’s immigration crackdown is keeping players, coaches and journalists out of a tournament that is supposed to belong to the whole world. His remarks were first reported by the New York Daily News.
Mamdani pointed to visa denials: journalists from tournament-qualifying countries that sit on the administration’s travel ban list, plus rejected visas for coaches and entire foreign national teams. For a global tournament, he said, the denials contradict the point.
“This is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about,” Mamdani said. “If we can’t even allow players, teams, journalists covering them to come to this country, it begs a larger question about our commitment to the spirit of this tournament.”
He made the comments at the unveiling of a free watch party for the World Cup Final on July 19, to be held on Central Park’s Great Lawn. The event is set to host more than 50,000 fans, with tickets handed out through a lottery.
The visa denials are not the only problem. Soccer fans who live in the U.S. worry ICE will show up at or around stadiums. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said he had reviewed a plan to send more immigration agents to New York City and to expand the agency’s footprint here.
“I made her a promise: you’re going to see more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen in New York City, and it’s coming,” Homan said in an interview on Fox News. “I just reviewed an operational plan.” Homan made the remarks while addressing protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration facility in Newark, roughly 10 miles from where the World Cup final will be played.
The administration has made some exceptions. The Associated Press reported that the White House suspended a requirement forcing travelers from qualifying countries who had bought tickets to post bonds of as much as $15,000 to enter the U.S. Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, told reporters in Miami that “if you’re inside the country legally, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Standing right there with Mamdani as he made his case was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a man Mamdani himself has hammered before. Also on hand were Gov. Kathy Hochul, former Liberian president and soccer star George Weah, and Italian legends Roberto Baggio and Christian “Bobo” Vieri.
Infantino has drawn bipartisan heat over how much World Cup tickets cost, driven by surge pricing and a resale market FIFA has done little to slow. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey are investigating the tournament’s ticketing. New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in late May that they had subpoenaed FIFA over eight matches hosted in New Jersey, including the final.
“No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive,” James said. The investigation flagged that FIFA raised prices on more than 90 of the 104 matches between October 2025 and April 2026, with some jumping upward of 34 percent.
Asked whether he shares those criticisms of Infantino, Mamdani said his goal is to make the tournament the “most affordable and accessible experience for as many New Yorkers as possible.”
“I’m willing to work with everyone to that end,” the mayor said.
Mamdani has secured 1,000 tickets at $50 apiece, a steep discount for games now reselling for thousands, according to the Daily News. He and Infantino met at City Hall in March.
“We will make this World Cup one that as many people as possible can participate in,” Mamdani said. “I want to say thank you to everyone who shares that same mission, all those who have done so much to make the world game belong to the world.”
Featured image: Karam McCurdy / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
