The revamped FIFA Club World Cup starting on Saturday brings together some of the most celebrated teams and players in global soccer ... and Auckland City. In a tournament boasting US$1 billion in prize money and featuring superstar multi-millionaire players including Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, the New Zealand side are a striking anomaly.
Auckland City are an amateur club, their players balancing soccer with university studies or full-time jobs as teachers, real-estate agents and sales representatives. They do not earn a salary for playing.
Their first game at the Club World Cup in the US brings them face-to-face with German champions Bayern Munich and their prolific England striker Harry Kane.
Photo: AFP
Benfica and Boca Juniors, two other storied heavyweights, come next.
Auckland City striker Angus Kilkolly cannot wait.
“It’s probably our dream group,” he told said as he made his way to training from his day job in sales. “For us to be able to experience playing against those teams is a dream for us. To be actually on the same pitch is a little bit crazy.”
The 13-time Oceania Champions League winners have been an almost constant presence at the Club World Cup since 2006.
The Navy Blues finished third of seven sides at the 2014 edition, beaten by Argentina’s San Lorenzo in extra time in the semi-finals.
The tournament this time is a different beast after FIFA pumped in huge resources and made it a 32-team competition that includes Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Inter.
Kilkolly describes Auckland City as “a family club where everyone’s welcome, you know everyone, you see the same people at every game.”
Their picturesque Kiwitea Street ground is nestled in a residential area in New Zealand’s biggest city, and matches typically take place in front of crowds of 200 to 2,000, Kilkolly said.
“We’ve got a nice boutique club room, and everybody enjoys a drink after the game,” said the 29-year-old, who averages a goal every other game in his nearly 140 appearances for the club.
Auckland City are currently second, a point behind leaders Birkenhead United AFC in the amateur 12-team Northern League.
So, against the highest level of opposition they have ever faced, what would represent success against Bayern and the rest?
“If we can leave there and say: ‘We played our style, we’ve done our best,’ I think that’s a positive outlook,” Kilkolly said. “If we leave there with regrets, going: ‘We didn’t do all we could,’ that would be a sour feeling.”
The team would stick to the club’s “DNA” of attractive, possession-based soccer and playing out from the back, he said.
“We don’t concede a lot of goals in New Zealand, so obviously we’re aiming not to concede too many goals at the Club World Cup as well,” he said.
Kilkolly’s typical week day is a busy one, and he has not taken a proper holiday for three or four years, because soccer eats up all his leave days.
A manager in sales for a power tools firm, he is in the office at 7:30am, does a day’s work, trains three or four times a week, home by 9pm, off to bed, repeat.
He does not receive a wage for playing soccer.
Rather, there is a cap of NZ$150 (US$91) a week for amateur soccer players in the country covering basic expenses such as gym membership.
The Auckland City players are to be in the US for about a month — thankfully Kilkolly’s boss is understanding and likes soccer.
“It’s not easy, it’s four weeks’ leave, but I don’t have four weeks’ annual leave, so there’s unpaid leave going there,” Kilkolly said. “But it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Playing at the World Cup gives us the ability to compete on a world stage and have that feeling of being a professional footballer, without being one.”
As a forward, Kilkolly would have eyes on Kane’s No. 9 jersey after their game at the 26,000-capacity TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I think he earns more in a week than I earn in a year working,” he said with a laugh.
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