Auckland win nets windfall for football in New Zealand

Auckland City FC's win over Moghreb Tetouan in the play-off round of the FIFA Club World Cup has netted New Zealand Football and its ASB Premiership franchises a share of NZ$1.3 million.

Navy Blues club chairman Ivan Vuksich was delighted by the win but confirmed the lionshare of prize money is set to be split equitably among a number of key stakeholders in the game in New Zealand.

Vuksich explained "we have an agreement in New Zealand that the participant at the FIFA Club World Cup splits half of any prize money with our national federation, New Zealand Football, and the other clubs in the ASB Premiership."

The ASB Premiership is currently a nine-team competition containing the Wellington Phoenix reserves, Wanderers SC, WaiBOP United, Waitakere United, Canterbury United, Southern United, Team Wellington and Hawke's Bay United.

Vuksich said while winning prize money is useful for Auckland City FC, there are bills to be paid to prepare adequately for playing on the world stage.

He stated "Auckland City FC does incur a significant amount of expenditure itself in preparation for a trip like this that is in excess of $150,000 NZD. That cost is made up of our training base camp en route to the tournament.

"We took the team to Dubai to play a friendly match with Uzbekistan and that is an expensive exercise for any amateur club. The costs we incur includes excess luggage and airfare change fees in excess of $40,000 last year, additional airfares, visa costs for players and staff.

"There are also travel costs in relation to the official draw held prior to the competition, the team workshop and inspection visits that take place prior to the tournament.

"By contrast, clubs like Real Madrid and West Sydney Wanderers operate at a far different financial level than we do.

"We operate on a shoestring budget in world football terms."

Auckland City FC have played in six FIFA Club World Cups, but have participated in the OFC Champions League since 2005, a geographic region bigger than Europe. The costs associated with those campaigns are eye-watering for a club the size of Auckland City FC.

Vuksich added "the OFC Champions League is a seperate cost for us and again sits at around $100,000 NZD to participate in every season we've qualified.

"We pay for our own accommodation when we are away, the players have to apply to have time off work to compete and its a very difficult logistical exercise.

"Our average attendances in our domestic competition are around 1,000 per match and can go as high as 3,000 for an OFC Champions League game, although away from home we can expect to play in front of anywhere between 5,000 to 20,000 fans," he said.

While the joy of winning was a memory of a lifetime, Vuksich said Auckland City FC had to be pragmatic.

"We're proud and we'll enjoy this moment but we have to be realistic about things and paint a clear picture of the challenge set before us.

"Its a great testimony to the work of our coach Ramon Tribulietx and his backroom team, the players, our administrators and volunteers.

"Our sponsors, of course, have played a big part in our success and I want to thank everyone connected with football back home in New Zealand and around the Oceania region for their support.

"Achieving credibility and respect for football in our part of the world is difficult at times but its also vital to aim for and we feel to a certain extent that we've helped do that by winning the match with Moghreb Tetouan," he said.

Auckland City FC go into preparatory mode ahead of Saturday's quarter-final showdown with ES Setif of Algeria.

For more information go to www.aucklandcityfc.com 

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