{"id":259627,"date":"2026-06-08T20:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/259627\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T20:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:21:19","slug":"former-fifa-stars-join-mamdani-hochul-to-unveil-world-cup-final-watch-party-in-central-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/259627\/","title":{"rendered":"Former FIFA stars join Mamdani, Hochul to unveil World Cup final watch party in Central Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Famous former footballers joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul and FIFA President Gianni Infantino Monday to announce New York City will host a massive, free watch party in Central Park for the World Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

More than 50,000 lucky local soccer fanatics are expected for the July 19 event on Central Park\u2019s Great Lawn, officials said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a watch party for the FIFA World Cup final in Central Park for 50,000 fans during an event on June 8, 2026. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Hizzoner was joined by NY Governor Kathy Hochul at the press conference in Central Park on Monday. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaking in Central Park on Monday. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most iconic match of the most iconic tournament in the world deserves to be watched in the most iconic park in the world, with the most iconic skyline as its backdrop,\u201d said Mamdani.<\/p>\n

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics<\/a><\/p>\n

A total of 52,600 tickets will be up for grabs for the event, with about 20% of the spots reserved for local nonprofit organizations and \u201cNYC service volunteers,\u201d according to City Hall. <\/p>\n

Remaining tickets will be distributed by Global Citizen through a lottery system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals interested in attending can register\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0beginning Thursday, June 11 at 10 a.m. The lottery will remain open through July 16,\u201d City Hall wrote in a press release.<\/p>\n

The tickets for the Great Lawn watch party will be distributed through a lottery system. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Legendary former soccer stars were in attendance for the announcement \u2014 including African player and former Liberian President George Weah and Italian players Roberto Baggio and Christian \u201cBobo\u201d Vieri.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is present here today for this fantastic occasion in New York,\u201d Infantino, the FIFA boss, said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani shows off soccer skills in front of Governor Hochul, FIFA stars, and the press in Central Park on Monday. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to every citizen of New York for making New York what it is, for welcoming the world, and we all know that the world needs an occasion to come together to unite, that\u2019s what the World Cup does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The event will be made possible through a $6 million investment from Empire State Development, combined with $3.5 million in city dollars, and will feature on-air personalities Charlamagne tha God and Elvis Duran as emcees.<\/p>\n

Mamdani touted the gratis nature of the party as he noted sports experiences have become increasingly unattainable for working people.<\/p>\n

Standard tickets for the finals can set fans back several thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Famous former footballers joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul and FIFA President Gianni Infantino Monday to announce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4709,11015,426,57,9,24,55,54,56,86313,58,14771,33009,82],"class_list":["post-259627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-central-park","tag-fifa","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-tavern-on-the-green","tag-us-news","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}