Darializa Avila Chevalier, the 32-year-old Democratic socialist running for New York's 13th Congressional District, announced a raffle for premium World Cup tickets as a reward for campaign canvassing, and FIFA says she never asked permission.
The global soccer governing body told the Daily Mail it is now "taking steps to address" the unsanctioned lottery, which offers Category 1 tickets to the England vs. Panama match on June 27 in exchange for volunteer shifts knocking on doors.
The scheme is the latest headache for a candidate whose brief public career already includes racially charged social media posts, anti-Israel activism at Columbia University, and a DSA questionnaire in which she pledged to legalize prostitution and private drug use, abolish prisons, and dismantle Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Chevalier posted the offer on X on Wednesday. The pitch was straightforward: volunteers who complete a minimum of ten canvassing shifts and collect ten different campaign trading cards are automatically entered into the drawing. The raffle closes Monday, June 22.
In her own words on X:
"We're raffling off CATEGORY 1 tickets to the Panama v England game on June 27th, at the World Cup, and all you have to do is canvass."
Her campaign framed the giveaway as routine volunteer appreciation. A spokesperson told the Daily Mail:
"This is a reward to our most dedicated and motivated volunteers. No one is paying for the opportunity to get these tickets: the only way you can be eligible to receive these tickets is by volunteering for the campaign. Campaigns regularly provide incentives to volunteers, such as campaign merchandise, food, and drink. This is no different."
FIFA disagrees.
A FIFA spokesperson cited Section 8.7 of its official Ticket Terms of Sale, which states that tickets "are issued as personal, revocable licenses and may not be used for any advertising, promotional or competition purposes, including raffles, sweepstakes or similar activities, without FIFA's prior written consent."
The spokesperson added that these provisions exist to "protect the integrity and fair allocation of tickets, ensure that access is provided through controlled and secure channels, and safeguard the commercial rights that underpin the organisation and delivery of the FIFA World Cup."
New York Post reporter Craig McCarthy reported on X that FIFA is "taking steps to address" the unsanctioned lottery. What those steps look like, ticket revocation, legal action, a formal warning, remains unclear.
The campaign's comparison to handing out T-shirts and pizza does not hold up well against FIFA's written terms. Campaign merchandise belongs to the campaign. World Cup tickets belong to FIFA under a revocable license, with explicit restrictions on promotional use. Treating them as interchangeable takes a generous reading of the rules.
Chevalier is no stranger to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's orbit. She served as a lead for Mamdani's campaign in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan and is described as his former aide. Mamdani endorsed her congressional bid against Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who has held the Harlem-based seat since 2017.
Mamdani himself has faced questions about World Cup access. He ran his own ticket lottery last month, making select tickets available for $50, and attended the Brazil vs. Morocco match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. He reportedly obtained multiple exclusive tickets to games throughout the tournament. His spokesperson, Dora Pekec, defended the attendance as official business:
"Given the unique nature of the World Cup and the once-in-a-generation opportunity for New York City to serve as a host city, the mayor will attend select matches at MetLife Stadium in his official capacity to perform official functions as the chief executive of the host city."
Whether Mamdani's own $50 lottery drew any scrutiny from FIFA is not addressed in available reporting. But the pattern, a mayor and his protégé both running ticket schemes tied to the World Cup, raises fair questions about how these tickets were obtained and whether anyone in the operation consulted FIFA's terms before announcing public giveaways.
As Fox News reported, Mamdani has continued to defend his endorsement of Chevalier even as scrutiny mounts over her record and social media history.
The ticket raffle is not the first time Chevalier has drawn unfavorable attention. The New York Post previously unearthed posts from a now-inactive X account under the handle "darializabonet," allegedly belonging to Chevalier and dating to September 2019. One post read: "Black men [handshake emoji] Arab men fetishizing ugly colonizer women." Another described a confrontation at a Popeyes restaurant involving a BDS shirt.
Chevalier has not publicly confirmed or denied authorship of those posts, and the account is no longer active. But the trail of racially charged social media activity has become a recurring liability for her campaign.
Her political résumé leans hard left even by New York standards. From 2012 to 2016, Chevalier was an anti-Israel activist at Columbia University, where she worked with Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that has since been suspended. She credited herself as a leader of "tentefada" encampments on campus.
Her DSA candidate questionnaire goes further. She pledged to legalize prostitution and private drug use, abolish prisons, abolish ICE, and end U.S. military support for Israel. That policy slate puts her well outside the mainstream, and it is worth noting that her far-left commitments are not incidental to her candidacy but central to it.
Earlier this week, Chevalier appeared on New York's PIX 11 alongside Espaillat. Asked about World Cup allegiances, Chevalier said she would be rooting for Senegal. Espaillat said he was backing Mexico. A lighthearted segment, except that the candidate rooting for Senegal is the same one raffling off tickets to an England-Panama match she apparently has no personal rooting interest in, using those tickets as campaign currency in possible violation of FIFA's terms.
The episode fits a pattern that voters in the 13th District should weigh carefully. Chevalier's campaign treats rules, FIFA's ticketing terms, conventional norms around inflammatory social media posts, mainstream policy guardrails, as suggestions to be worked around rather than boundaries to be respected.
That pattern is not unique to her. Candidates who treat accountability as optional have a way of surfacing across the political landscape, and voters are right to ask what kind of officeholder someone becomes when the rules they disregard carry real consequences.
Espaillat, whatever his flaws, has held the seat since 2017 and is not currently under review by an international governing body for misusing event tickets. That is a low bar. Chevalier has managed to trip over it anyway.
Meanwhile, questions about how officials and candidates in Mamdani's circle obtained their World Cup access remain unanswered. The willingness of elected officials and aspiring officeholders to blur the lines between public service and personal perks is a bipartisan disease, but the current outbreak in upper Manhattan has a distinctly progressive flavor.
FIFA has not specified what enforcement action it may take. The raffle closes June 22. The England-Panama match is five days later. Whether Chevalier's campaign will pull the raffle, renegotiate with FIFA, or simply press ahead remains to be seen.
The open questions are numerous. Where did Chevalier get the tickets? Did anyone on the campaign read Section 8.7 before posting the announcement? Has FIFA contacted the campaign directly? None of these have been answered publicly.
For voters in Harlem's 13th Congressional District, the raffle is a small thing. But small things reveal character. A candidate who cannot manage a ticket giveaway without drawing an international enforcement response is asking voters to trust her with a congressional office, a legislative portfolio, and oversight of federal agencies she has pledged to abolish.
When someone tells you who they are, through their questionnaire answers, their social media trail, and the corners they cut, believe them.
