The champions of New Zealand and all of Oceania head to the United States as by far the most rank of outsiders

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When you close your eyes and think of New Zealand, what do you see? Is it the picturesque landscape? Is it 15 buff men doing the Haka? Is it Lorde strutting down a Coachella stage with Charli XCX? Is it Chris Wood returning dividends on FPL? Whatever it is, it almost certainly isn't related to their club football.

Auckland City, the reigning champions of Oceania, will represent the continent at the revamped Club World Cup hoping to buck that trend, but face one hell of an uphill battle to leave a good lasting impression on the rest of the globe.

The Navy Blues are merely part-timers, and play their home games at a stadium with a capacity of only 3,500 – most of which is standing, a la English non-league – in a quaint suburb with a 12,000-strong population. They are by a country mile the underdogs in a Club World Cup group featuring Portuguese giants Benfica, Argentine heavyweights Boca Juniors, and German champions Bayern Munich.

So, who are the plucky minnows from the City of Sails looking to upset the applecart in the United States this summer? GOAL has you covered – here's everything you need to know about Auckland City:

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Having won 13 editions of the OFC Champions League in the 22 seasons it has run for, including the last four in a row since resumption following the coronavirus pandemic, Auckland City are by far the most successful club side in Oceanian football history.

In fact, the Champions League has only been won by one team from outside New Zealand since 2010, with Hienghene Sport of New Caledonia taking home the 2019 title before the world was plunged into lockdown. Auckland City's main rivals, Team Wellington, are the only other victors in that time, one year earlier in 2018.

Back in 2014, Auckland City became the only winners of the special one-time OFC President's Cup, which was designed to strengthen relations with the neighbouring Asian (AFC) and North American (CONCACAF) confederations. It was a unique tournament that saw the Fiji Under-20 and Singapore Under-23 teams invited, as well as Amicale of Vanuatu, Bahraini side Busaiteen and Cayman Islands Premier League winners Bodden Town.

There really isn't any doubt in saying Auckland City are Oceania's biggest, best and most important team. They have more than earned the right to compete at the Club World Cup.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesBronze medallists

Despite their lowly status, Auckland City do have an extensive history at the Club World Cup in its previous form, and even though they are usually met with defeat on sight, it's not as if they've been completely destroyed by the best teams from other continents on a regular basis.

In total, they have played in 17 Club World Cup matches and won only five of them, losing seven times by two goals or more but never by upward of three, suggesting they can at the very least be once they leave their comfort zone of Oceania. That said, they were hammered 6-2 by Al Ain (more on them later) in the equivalent FIFA Intercontinental Cup at the end of 2024, perhaps pouring a bit of cold water over any flaming expectations.

Their biggest success came in 2014 when they came close to facing Real Madrid in the final. After knocking out African champions ES Setif in the quarter-finals, Auckland City took South American side San Lorenzo to extra-time in the semis, only to lose 2-1 following 120 minutes of action. They were sent to the third-place play-off to take on Cruz Azul of Mexico, where they prevailed 4-2 on penalties at the end of a 1-1 draw, taking home the bronze medal.

Watch every FIFA Club World Cup game free on DAZNStream nowGetty Images Sport4,948th in the world

There aren't many ways of measuring teams from different continents against each other, but stat-gurus Global Power Rankings are probably the closest way we have to accurately doing so. Heading into the Club World Cup, Auckland City are all the way down in 4,948th. In comparison, group-stage opponents Bayern are sixth, Benfica are 24th and Boca are 131st.

To put into further perspective how unevenly matched Auckland City will be at the tournament, the next lowest-ranked team at the Club World Cup are Al Ain, the very team they lost 6-2 to only a few months ago, and even then are ranked at 611th. Many of the teams ranked similarly to the New Zealanders are semi-professional or amateur – they are 128 places behind Brackley Town, who have just won the National League North in the sixth tier of English football, for example.

Getty ImagesSecond in their own city

The club name 'Auckland City' and urban population of over 1.5 million people would suggest that the team attract a decent enough crowd, yet they usually average attendances of around 1,000 inside their 3,500-capacity Kiwitea Street ground.

This hasn't been helped by Australia's A-League choosing to expand into New Zealand. Joining Wellington Phoenix for the 2024-25 season were Auckland FC, who averaged crowds of 18,000 at the much larger Go Media Stadium and are controlled by the same owners as Premier League side Bournemouth. To cast an even darker shadow over City, FC finished top of the league in their inaugural campaign, before falling in the play-off semi-finals to Melbourne Victory.

"Normally, I would say we have anywhere between 800 to 1,200 depending on the match itself. We expect to have a group of about 40 to 50 people from Auckland City to come to the United States," general manager Gordon Watson recently revealed. It's a long way away from their domestic setup – a tournament-record 17,000 miles away, to be more precise.

"A home game in the Northern League usually begins at nine o'clock in the morning," Watson said. "Two of our club volunteers will be down at Kiwitea Street putting up the goals, the nets, the corner flags and the flags around the venue. The grass is cut to a certain length which gets done on Thursday if the guy remembers to do it. Our chairman will be very quick to ring that person up if they haven't done it!"

There were local reports suggesting City were hoping to loan in some of FC's stars to help their cause at the Club World Cup, but not a single player has made the switch ahead of the tournament. Manager Paul Posa, meanwhile, is only just meeting up with his squad after missing the first fortnight of their U.S. stay due to personal reasons. Aside from that, it will be business as usual for the same old cast of City stars.