Zohran Mamdani has held just two major public events in the lead-up to the New York City mayoral election on November 4 — and one of them was a soccer tournament.
To jar your memory, the first was the scavenger hunt that took place in August, when thousands of New Yorkers crossed the boroughs to solve puzzles that related to the mayoral history of the city. The second was the "Cost of Living Classic" that took place on Sunday, a 5-a-side tournament in partnership with NYC Footy that saw 32 teams compete in a day-long soccerfest on the turf field at Maimonides Park in Coney Island, home to the Brooklyn Cyclones and Brooklyn FC.
If the scavenger hunt was a way to get the public to engage with the office Mamdani hopes to hold, the Cost of Living Classic was an excuse for an epic kick around in a minor league stadium.
"A New York City Mayor? Who loves soccer as much as we do? Never in my wildest dreams," said Christian Polanco, the comedian and soccer personality who emceed the event, and who is one half of the Cooligans.
Zohran Mamdani, soccer sicko
It shouldn't come as a complete surprise that Mamdani would elect to host a tournament a little more than two weeks ahead of Election Day. The candidate played on the soccer team at the Bronx High School of Science, joined Spike Lee in Fort Greene last month to watch Arsenal draw Manchester City with a thrilling stoppage-time equalizer, and made international headlines when he came out against FIFA's use of predatory dynamic pricing that's driving up the cost of tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Zhoran Mamdani scores for Bronx High School of Science | Courtesy Zhoran Mamdani
More relevant to the Cost of Living Classic, Mamdani played in NYC Footy pickup leagues as an adult. The New York State Assembly member joined as a free agent, an individual player assigned to a team that needs to fill out their roster spots. On Sunday, Mamdani spoke knowingly about the field conditions at Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, and what it feels like to pull a hamstring at an age when maybe you shouldn't be going so hard. "I was running back to defend," he said.
Mamdani sat with his former teammates on the sidelines, catching up and taking selfies. He was in his element.
After the final games were played and the winners were waiting to be crowned champions, Mamdani explained to the crowd why the campaign decided to hold the tournament. "I think about the words of Ronaldinho, who said that football is about joy, and in many ways, this campaign is about giving back a sense of joy in a city that has just become defined by struggle," Mamdani said. "For all of the focus on hustle in our city, there also needs to be some time for rest, some time for actually getting a break. And we're not just fighting to be on a 24/7 hamster wheel, we're fighting so that you can have a weekend. We're fighting so that you can actually recover on a Saturday and a Sunday, and have time with your friends, and have time with your family."
An unalienable right to soccer? Preach.
And with that, Mamdani welcomed Soccer Lovers of Bushwick – also known as SLoB – to the podium tarp-covered pitcher's mound, where he presented the team a spray-painted shield. Confetti cannons were fired, bottles of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider were sprayed by the players,
A proper Sunday league tournament
If it's not already clear, the Cost of Living Classic wasn't a quick photo-op, a staged moment on a mini-pitch with youth players giving the candidate awkward high-fives.
Rather, it was a five-hour tournament that featured two competitive divisions, each with 16 pre-registered teams that could have up to nine rostered players. The day opened with a group stage, then went to single-elimination knockout rounds, with play starting at 3:00 pm and wrapping up after 8:00 pm. Every team was outfitted in jerseys made in Brooklyn by Mazzi Sports, and the spectators in the stands were given scarves with the now-familiar purple and yellow palette of the Mamdani campaign.
There were bloody knees, athletic backpacks packed with damp gear, and turf pellets stuck to sweaty skin. The players, who displayed varying degrees of fitness and skill, argued with the refs and shouted for questionable handballs. Everybody was intensely competitive on the field, and disarmingly friendly on the sidelines.
In other words, it was a proper Sunday league tournament.
Celebrating a shootout at the Cost of Living Classic | © Hudson River Blue
The matches were paused when Mamdani arrived, but once they resumed, no players paid much mind to the candidate sitting on the sidelines. There were leads to protect, shootouts to win. Mamdani might become the most progressive mayor in New York City history just one year after Donald Trump decisively retook the White House as one of the most conservative candidates in modern memory, but the implications of that political whiplash took a back seat to more pressing issues, like advancing to the finals.
As far as political slogans go, "Sunday League Soccer for All" isn't going to rank alongside “Change We Can Believe In” or "A Kinder, Gentler Nation" as one of the all-time greats. But it resonated with the crowd at Coney Island.
The tournament, Mamdani said, was an opportunity to "celebrate why we choose to live in this city, the friends that make it so special, the families that we've created, the sport that we all love, just one year before the World Cup comes to New York City. It is just a joy to not only be here with you, but also to have such a community that is growing and building across ages, across boroughs."
Mamdani was referring to the coalition that he hopes will carry him to City Hall on November 4, but he could have been talking about the soccer scene in general here in New York City.
