Zohran Mamdani’s Fifa fight is a blueprint for the left to re-engage with sports | Leander Schaerlaeckens

<p>The New York City mayoral candidate’s petition blends progressive politics to an audience that’s been near-monopolized by the right</p><p>If Zohran Mamdani had not intended it as a campaigning opportunity, he probably wouldn’t have worn a full suit – the universal candidate’s uniform. But there he was, the 33-year-old Democratic nominee for November’s New York City mayoral election; the upstart democratic socialist who has stormed on to the national stage with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/23/zohran-mamdani-new-york-city-mayor-race-viral">a wildfire campaign</a> on an unabashedly progressive platform of affordability in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Last Sunday, he <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/rmac.bsky.social/post/3lzecnxvwmc2j">mingled in an Arsenal bar</a> in Brooklyn, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/zohrankmamdani.bsky.social/post/3lzeoo5zx6k2y">flanked by fellow Gooner Spike Lee</a>, peering at the big screen with a solemnity befitting the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/21/arsenal-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report">showdown with Manchester City</a>.</p><p>Mamdani is the overwhelming favorite in the race to run the United States’ largest city, sitting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/10/zohran-mamdani-new-york-mayor-poll">15 points clear</a> of his nearest rival, Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani is potentially New York’s first Muslim mayor. And also its first soccer mayor.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/25/zohran-mamdani-fifa-left-progressive-politics-sports">Continue reading...</a>