Zohran Mamdani's wholesome reaction to personal message from Arsenal legend Ian Wright

Tom Weber

• 25 Nov 2025 15:45 CST
• 4 min read

News

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could not contain his excitement when he was shown a personal message from Arsenal legend Ian Wright during an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show.

The 34-year-old recently upset Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral race to become, once inaugurated on 1 January 2026, the youngest mayor of the city since 1892 as well as the first Indian-American and Muslim mayor.

Mamdani's victory over Cuomo also made headlines in the football media sphere because he is a huge soccer fan and a diehard supporter of Premier League giants Arsenal.

Mamdani has sought to use his influence to call on FIFA to do away with its dynamic ticket pricing for the 2026 World Cup, which he believes is making it impossible for people from lower-income backgrounds to attend the tournament.

The mayor-elect has now gone viral on social media after he spoke at length about his love for the game, and Arsenal in particular, during an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show.

Mamdani shocked by message from Wright

Mamdani and comedian Friedland, himself an Arsenal supporter, appeared to be kindred spirits as they discussed soccer in the episode, which was recorded during Sunday's North London Derby.

Early on in the show, Friedland surprised Mamdani with a video message from Gunners legend Ian Wright. The mayor-elect could hardly contain his excitement, exclaiming, "What?!" and "I love you."

"Hey Zohran, how are you doing? Ian Wright here," the former striker said in the clip. "I just want to say a massive, massive congratulations on what you've achieved. The real work, though, starts now, and God willing, you can achieve everything that you've set out to achieve."

Wright urged Mamdani to channel his "winning energy" and also made sure to include Arsenal and Mikel Arteta in his message by telling him to "get behind the boys" and "back Mikel."

"I love this man," Mamdani mumbled as he watched the video for a second time. "He's the best guy of all time," Friedland concurred. The two then discussed the iconic video of Wright being reunited with his school teacher, Mr. Pigden, in 2005, whom Wright thought had passed away.

Afterwards, Mamdani revealed that he used to play as a striker when he was younger, which prompted Friedland to say that "a lot of our brain is occupied by the most useless information about soccer."

"Every day I wake up, I think about Sebastian Squillaci," Mamdani quipped in response. "Oh my god," Friedland gasped. "Pascal Cygan," Mamdani continued, "Marouane Chamakh!"

You can watch the full interview below...

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