{"id":268714,"date":"2026-06-16T18:17:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268714\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:17:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:17:51","slug":"queens-students-world-cup-bound-after-hitting-the-jackpot-in-sweepstakes-draw-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268714\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens students World Cup-bound after hitting the jackpot in sweepstakes draw \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

With ticket prices soaring, students on PS 171Q\u2019s soccer team and their parents had long given up hope of going to the World Cup<\/a> this summer \u2014 until one parent tried their luck in a StubHub<\/a> sweepstakes and hit the jackpot.<\/p>\n

Soccer-obsessed Wing Yee Sang, whose son Liam plays on the PS 171Q soccer team, had grown frustrating by the sky-high prices for games at MetLife Stadium and entered every draw she could in a bid to secure affordable tickets.<\/p>\n

\"BrazilBrazil celebrates after equalizing against Morocco at MetLife Stadium. Photo via Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really excited (about the World Cup) but when tickets went on sale, they were just so expensive, but I kept looking anyway,\u201d Yee Sang told QNS. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking since last year, and the prices just kept getting higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for group games at MetLife Stadium currently fetch at least $816 on secondary markets, pricing most families with kids at Astoria\u2019s<\/a> PS 171Q, many of whom reside in the Astoria Houses NYCHA complex.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, she entered a number of draws to win coveted tickets so that she could take her son to a World Cup game, including a StubHub draw that she felt she had no chance of winning. To her surprise, the ticket exchange giant adjudged her submission to be the most compelling.<\/p>\n

The company offered tickets to all 17 players on the school\u2019s soccer team for Norway vs Senegal on June 22, also providing tickets for one parent or guardian per child and two school staff \u2014 a total of 36 tickets. The lucky winners will also receive transportation to and from the game, while they will experience the game from a suite at MetLife Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"BrazilBrazil and Morocco took part in the first World Cup match at MetLife Stadium last week. Photo via Reuters<\/p>\n

For children from a school where over 90% of students have economic needs, the prize meant everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I had written about in my submission was just that with the high price of tickets, especially with the World Cup, it is not something that our families in the school would ever be able to afford on their own, but it\u2019s an experience that would change them forever,\u201d Yee Sang said.<\/p>\n

There was one catch, however, Yee Sang and other parents could not tell their children about the prize until an NBC<\/a> broadcast from the school hall, leading to an agonizing month-long period for parents as they waited for details to be finalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited, but I couldn\u2019t be excited in front of him,\u201d Yee Sang said.\n<\/p>\n

The day finally arrived two weeks ago, with the team gathering in the hall to hear from PS 171Q principal Laura Kavourias, with no idea of what was about to come.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought they were going to get McDonald\u2019s,\u201d Kavourias told QNS. \u201cBecause, at the end of basketball season, I got the team McDonald\u2019s, I got the cheerleaders McDonald\u2019s, so they thought I was going to tell them they were getting food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kavourias eventually made the big reveal that they would, in fact, be receiving World Cup tickets, leading to an outpouring of joy and an eruption of screaming from the soccer team, which was too much for some to handle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cried three times that day,\u201d Yee Sang said. \u201cI was just so emotional because they were so excited. They couldn\u2019t believe they were going to the World Cup.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Yee Sang said her son has been buzzing with excitement since the announcement, adding that she has explained to him that he will be seeing one of the best players in the world in Erling Haaland, who plays up front for Norway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to see him in person, not just playing on the TV,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Kavourias has noted a similar excitement from students at school.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are asking me, \u2018is this really happening?\u2019 I\u2019m like, yes, it\u2019s really happening,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re asking me for information, and I don\u2019t have all the information.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has also been getting a flood of emails from strangers commenting on how inspirational the story is in the wake of the NBC broadcast.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018People keep saying \u2018great job\u2019 or whatever,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really not me, it was Wing that did this. The only thing that I have to do with anything is the relationships I build with my parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I was able to do this for all of our kids, but the soccer team is a great connection and I believe it will inspire them.\u201d
\n\"StudentsStudents from PS 171Q will be traveling to MetLife Stadium next week. Photo via Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With ticket prices soaring, students on PS 171Q\u2019s soccer team and their parents had long given up hope…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[98038,103748,9,24,75537,63,103749,122,124,123,62566,36529,103750,14771],"class_list":["post-268714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-erling-haaland","tag-laura-kavourias","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-norway","tag-nyc","tag-ps-171q","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-senegal","tag-stubhub","tag-sweepstakes","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268714","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=268714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}