Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City, is an Arsenal fan – and a social media post related to Sunderland star Granit Xhaka has hilariously resurfaced.
The newly elected mayor of New York City, Mamdani, is a unique character. At 34, he’s the youngest New York has had since 1892, the first-ever Muslim mayor and the first born in Africa.
He also has a love for sport, including football – where Mamdani is widely known as a keen Arsenal fan – and stays up to the early hours in the morning for Premier League games involving the Gunners.
Zohran Mamdani 'New York is Not For Sale' Rally at Forest Hills Stadium
Photo by Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress
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And amid his successful election, an old social media post has emerged to do with former Arsenal star, Granit Xhaka.
Zohran Mamdani’s post about Sunderland star Granit Xhaka
Notorious in the X (Formerly Twitter) space for following Arsenal closely, following news of the election, a post has gone viral again from Mamdani.
It reads: “Me, when I saw Xhaka starting”, accompanied by a video that states: “I am having a very bad day. I am in no mood. This day is one of the worst days I’ve had in a long time.”
This is, of course, alluding to the fact that the 34-year-old was not very happy to see Xhaka starting for Arsenal.
This was at a point where Gunners fans had turned on Xhaka, which is now rather comical given the Swiss international’s form at Sunderland.
Zohran Mamdani is a big Arsenal fan
Of course, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and Mamdani more than most, considering his affiliation to the Gunners from an early age.
He told Vulture: “I came up as a fan in the early 2000s, and it was my uncle who introduced me to the team. I was born in Kampala, Uganda, in East Africa, and my dad’s family is from East Africa, and Arsenal was one of the first teams to have a number of African players: Lauren, Kolo Toure, Nwankwo Kanu, Emmanuel Eboue, Alex Song,” he said.
“Over the years, [then-manager] Arsene Wenger really transformed what English soccer looked like. As a Ugandan kid looking at this team, I was just so proud. I really got in during the good years – the ‘Invincible’ years, the years of success.
“Then I grew up in the years after that, which were years of infinite hope and very few results, and now we’re in a place where we’re actually competing. I can’t watch the games, but I’m reduced to watching a minute-by-minute update that I sneak an eye on.”
The Mayor of New York is a gooner. That wasn’t on my 2026 bingo card.