Soccer: Draw boxes City with top sides

Auckland City have been handed no favours with the draw for the Oceania Club Championships in Tahiti.

City, winners of the inaugural New Zealand Football Championship, have been drawn against the yet-to-be-determined Australian representative, the second-best Tahitian side and Papua New Guinea champions Sobou FC.

The draw, made at an Oceania Football Confederation meeting in Noumea, split the eight teams into two groups of four with the top two going through to the semifinals.

Australia have been allowed to wait until May 10 to find their representative following a seven-team play-off involving their seven Hyundai A-League teams, but not the New Zealand Knights.

The Australian team will have only a small wait before playing in the May 30-June 10 tournament which will find Oceania's representative for the rich Fifa Club Championship in Japan later in the year where each team is guaranteed a US$1 million pay day.

The Allan Jones-coached Auckland City side will return to training tonight after a break.

As hosts, Tahiti have two representatives but they will not be found until May 1.

The two groups are Auckland City, Sobou FC (PNG), Australian representative, Tahitian runner-up and, group B, Tafea FC (Vanuatu), Makuru FC (Solomon Islands), AS Magenta (New Caledonia) and the Tahitian club champions.

At the same meeting, the OFC executive unanimously endorsed Australia's proposal to resign from the confederation and join Asia.