Oceania Football Confederation club champions, Auckland City, will open the FIFA Club World Championship Finals when they take on the yet-to-be-determined African champions in the first quarter-final in Toyota, Japan on December 10.
Excitement is building for the Sandringham-based club with their NZFC domestic programme set to get underway tommorrow against Otago United at Kiwitea Street.
Should City win, they’ll take on Brazil’s Internacional in the semi, to be played in Tokyo on December 13.
Should they lose their quarter-final, City will play the other quarter-final loser for fifth place in Tokyo on December 15, while the third-place play-off and final will both take place in Yokohama on December 17.
The African Champions League is at the semi-final second leg stage. Al Ahly (Egypt) lead ASEC Abidjan (Ivory Coast) 2-0, with the second leg at ASEC, while it’s 0-0 after the first leg of the tie between Orlando Pirates (South Africa) and Club Sport Sfaxien (Tunisia), with the latter to host the second leg.
Both semi deciders take place this weekend, with the two-legged final taking place on Oct 27-29 and Nov 10-12.
Auckland City FC Chairman, Ivan Vuksich, was delighted with the draw and in a moment of light humour said, “Well, Barcelona have managed to avoid us in the first two games and I bet they’re breathing a sigh of relief about that. As you know, we’re the only amateur team in the event, but our season at home is well underway and we know all about winning in Oceania. We’ll just go all-out in this competition.”