A non-profit organization which supports people with serious spinal injuries was forced to cancel a raffle for two World Cup tickets after receiving cease-and-desist letters from a law firm representing soccer’s global governing body FIFA.In early May, Vancouver-based Spinal Cord Injury BC organized a promotion which invited people to enter a draw to secure two tickets to New Zealand against Egypt at BC Place on June 21, with proceeds intended to benefit various programs. The non-profit says on its website its key work is to “help people with spinal cord injuries and related disabilities to adjust, adapt and thrive”.The two tickets were in Category 2, located in the lower bowl of the stadium. As per FIFA’s April 16 ticket drop, these tickets appear to be worth $380 per seat. According to promotional material seen by The Athletic, participants were invited to enter on May 4 at 9am, with a ballot open until June 8. Participants were asked to pay $20 for one chance of securing a ticket, $50 for three chances or $100 for seven chances.However, the raffle has since been cancelled, as first reported by The Breaker, after the non-profit received a cease-and-desist letter from legal firm Lipkus Law, a Canadian firm representing World Cup organizers FIFA.Chris McBride, an executive director of Spinal Cord Injury BC, told The Athletic that the legal letter “told us we were in violation of FIFA’s trademark and their ticketing policy.” The tickets, purchased by a staff member of the non-profit, had not yet been released, and the letter added that contravening FIFA’s trademark and policies may result in them not being released at all to the buyer.FIFA’s ticketing regulations for the World Cup state that a ticket holder shall not use a ticket for “advertising, contests, sweepstakes, or other commercial, promotional and marketing activities (including as the prize or award in connection with such activities)”, unless they have authorization from FIFA to do so. This is also why New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani had months of negotiations with FIFA — including one-on-one talks with FIFA president Gianni Infantino — in order to secure sign-off to ballot 1,000 reduced-price $50 tickets for seven games at MetLife Stadium during the tournament.