NJ Governor Mikie Sherrill stands up to FIFA. [View all]

NEWARK, New Jersey — FIFA has deftly navigated Argentina’s military dictators, Russia’s oligarchs and Qatar’s royal family to get what it wants at previous World Cups. Soccer’s powerful governing body may have met its match this year in New Jersey’s elected politicians.

The state will host the championship match of the world’s biggest sporting event, but instead of welcoming it as a source of celebration, the state’s politicians are treating the tournament and its organizers as villains for burdening local taxpayers and commuters. Piling on FIFA — a Zurich-based nonprofit expected to make $13 billion from the tournament — has become a sport for New Jersey officials of both parties.

The World Cup has landed right on the intersection of familiar fault lines in the Garden State: a new governor pushing back on her predecessor’s legacy, blue-state Democrats against a Trump pet project, Jersey versus the world.

Governor Mikie Sherrill has nixed a weekslong soccer festival in a state park meant to host tens of thousands of fans, announced a $150 fare for ticketholders to get to matches via New Jersey Transit that grabbed international headlines and made FIFA the focus of a sustained pressure campaign on cost-of-living issues.



https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/03/fifa-new-jersey-world-cup-00896497