AUCKLAND – A $975,000 injection into football announced today by SPARC has smoothed the respective World Cup roads for the All Whites and Football Ferns.

The Football Ferns were among the big winners in SPARC’s High Performance Contestable Fund grants, receiving $725,000 over the next four years – beginning with $300,000 in 2009 – funding a detailed plan to qualify for the knockout stages of both the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2012 London Olympics.

The Thai Airways All Whites will also receive a $250,000 grant – outside the High Performance contestable fund – to support preparation for next year’s home and away playoff for a place at the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010.

The Football Ferns’ case to SPARC was helped by World Cup wins at U-20 and U-17 levels and a 10th place finish at the Beijing Olympics, the highest New Zealand placing in a female team sport.

Head coach John Herdman said this latest investment would be the catalyst for the Football Ferns to realise the potential shown by both senior and age-group national teams.

“It’s a coming-of-age for women’s football as an elite sport in New Zealand.”

“In terms of an international programme we’ve been competing against Ferraris with a Commodore, and one run on the smell of an oily rag; but we can now give it a bit of an overhaul and create a much slicker machine.”

“The team we’ve got now and the promising players coming through mean that the momentum in the game will continue to build and we can achieve something special at the next two pinnacle events.”

Herdman indicated the construction of an international programme with meaningful matches would now begin in earnest.

New Zealand Football CEO Michael Glading welcomed SPARC’s latest support, calling it a chance for football’s renaissance to gather speed.

“Football in this country is on a high with competitive Olympic teams, a successfully-hosted U-17 World Cup, the performances of our U-17 and U-20 girls, and an All Whites side within touching distance of a return to the World Cup. We’re delighted that SPARC share our confidence in the game,” Glading said.

visit www.nzsoccer.com for more.