As the Cost of Living Classic entered its fourth hour, Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner and democratic nominee in the New York City mayoral race, strode onto Maimonides Park in Coney Island. Assembled before him were amateur neighborhood soccer teams from every borough, clad in jerseys emblazoned with campaign slogans, and hundreds of fans waving blue, white and orange Zohran scarves. Mamdani took the microphone before the championship game, sending his luck to the competitors.
The tournament was a collaboration between Mamdani’s campaign and NYC Footy, a local organization that offers over 130 coed soccer leagues for all skill levels across all five boroughs. Tarek Pertew, CEO and co-founder of NYC Footy, told WSN that Mamdani’s campaign reached out to the organization to help with the event. Mamdani said he has built a relationship with NYC Footy as a player in one of its leagues for the past 15 years.
“He knows [NYC] Footy really well,” Pertew said. “He did a tournament last year, and we helped him with it.”
As a non-political organization, the event does not act as an official Mamdani endorsement from NYC Footy, and according to Pertew, the organization “endorses soccer.”
Pertew later added that NYC Footy was eager to work with the candidate because of his community focus and that if elected, he believed Mamdani would support policies that would help their organization.
“I think in office, he’s more likely to do more for what we need, which is more accessibility to fields,” Pertew said.
Faculty said the logistics of the Cost of Living Classic were complicated by an abbreviated timeline.
Kyros Morales, who has been working with NYC Footy as a part-time photographer for a year, described the organization’s ability to organize and engage the community with such a fast turnaround as a “miracle.” Despite the accelerated schedule, the event went off without a hitch.
Maimonides Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, hosted 32 teams in a casual and a competitive division. Each 16-team division had a five-on-five mixed gender format, with nine-player rosters and 20-minute games. Soccer Lovers of Brooklyn won the casual division, while Hellas-toria FC, representing Queens, won the competitive division.
Pertew said at least 1,000 people RSVP’d to spectate. Many of the attendees told WSN they support Mamdani’s campaign and heard of the event through his social media.
Mamdani is famously a soccer fan, often posting about his favorite Premier League team, Arsenal, and has made headlines for criticizing FIFA for its use of dynamic pricing ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
NYC Footy and Mamdani’s campaign emphasized that community building was the main reason for hosting the soccer tournament.
“It unites anyone, anyone on these teams, you’re going to have very different socioeconomic backgrounds,” Pertew said. “You’re gonna have very different professional backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, but you all play in the same team.”
During a short speech to the crowd and teams, Mamdani described that he didn’t know any of his teammates before joining his NYC Footy team, and how it connected him with his city and neighbors.
“The team that I love and am a part of, Talking Headers FC, I was on that team because I was a free agent,” Mamdani said. “I was put together with other free agents.”
Mamdani suggested that hosting less traditional, more lighthearted events can make the political process more open and accessible. He ended his speech with a message about finding spaces for connection in New York City’s fast-paced environment.
“For all the focus on hustle in our city, there also needs to be some time for rest.”
Contact John Bush and Evan D’Souza at [email protected].