Soccer: Two clubs poles apart

Kiwitea St

When the amateurs - the school teachers, accountants and students - of Auckland FC step out to play the Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final against Mexican side Atlante in Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning (NZT), it really is a tale of two contrasting clubs.

The Mexican side regularly plays in front of 20,000 screaming fans at its home stadium in Cancun. The Aucklanders, by contrast, play in front of average crowds of about 600 at tranquil Kiwitea St in Sandringham.

The Mexican side is used to dealing with budgets in the millions of dollars (or pesos); but for Auckland City FC, the US$500,000 they have won from yesterday's victory is several years' budget rolled into one huge windfall.

Here's some other comparisons to note:

Auckland City (AKL) and Atlante (AT)

Founded in

AKL: 2004
AT: 1916

League played in

AKL: NZ Football Championship
AT: Mexican First Division League

2009 achievement

AKL: Club Champions of Oceania
AT: Club Champions of CONCAFAF

Team beaten to make the FIFA Club World Cup

AKL: Koloale FC of the Solomon Islands
AT: US MLS side Houston Dynamo

Teams/countries in region competing to qualify for Abu Dhabi

AKL: (Oceania) 11, representing a total population of five million
AT: (CONCACAF) 24, representing a total population of 400 million

Home ground

AKL: Kiwitea St, Sandringham. Capacity: 5,000
AT: Estadio Olímpico Andrés, Cancun. Capacity: 20,000

Crowd size in match that qualified team for Club World Cup

AKL: 1250
AT: 20,000

Caterers at stadium

AKL: Two volunteers behind the counter in the clubrooms
AT: Staff of around 60

Number of professional players on the field

AKL: 1 (Ivan Vicelich)
AT: 11

- NZHERALD STAFF