The date and time of New Zealand’s crucial FIFA World Cup™ intercontinental play-off against Costa Rica has now been confirmed.

Danny Hay’s side will face Costa Rica in a one-off fixture at Qatar’s Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Tuesday, June 14 at 9.00pm local time (Wednesday, June 15, 6.00am NZT) with the winner qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

New Zealand qualified for the intercontinental play-off after beating the Solomon Islands 5-0 in the final of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Oceania Qualifiers, also held in Qatar, in March.

Costa Rica will be their opponents, having finished fourth in the final round of Concacaf qualifying – behind Canada, USA and Mexico.

The fixture will decide one of the final two spots remaining for the FIFA World Cup taking place later this year. Australia or UAE will face Peru in the other intercontinental play-off final the previous day.

The games will also offer another opportunity to test the operations and facilities of a FIFA World Cup stadium five months ahead of the tournament.

Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium was inaugurated on December 18 2020 on the occasion of the Amir Cup final, and recently hosted four matches during the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™.

During the FIFA World Cup, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium will stage six group matches and one round-of-16 match.

Should New Zealand win in June, they will return to the stadium to face Japan on November 27. New Zealand would also face Spain and Germany in Group E if they can overcome Costa Rica next month.