Auckland City: Bayern Munich's part-time opponents looking to take down Harry Kane & Co. at the Club World Cup

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.

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 competitive 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.

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There aren't many ways of measuring teams from different continents against each other, but stat-gurus Opta's 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.

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.

Seeing as Auckland City's supposed peers are of non-league standard, they act like them too. The entire squad represent the Navy Blues as their second job and mainly for the love of the game over money, best showcased by many of the team's decision to take unpaid leave to play at the tournament.

Vice-captain Adam Mitchell, who also works as a real estate agent, said to Fox Sports: "We're representing 99 percent of club teams in world football who are amateurs. We all have day jobs. We work usually nine to five. It's extremely difficult and it's tiring, but to have these rewards at the end of the tunnel is obviously a privilege for every single person involved in this in this club.

"A David versus Goliath story, we don't know if that is going to happen, but we're extremely proud to be here in this competition. There's a lot of emotions involved in big football matches like this."

It's not uncommon for Auckland City to split their roster in two depending on priorities and, perhaps more importantly due to other work commitments, availability. Their far-flung excursions in the OFC Champions League sometimes see part of the team fly out for those trips, while the rest remain at home to tackle domestic league and cup matches.

There are officially 29 members of the Auckland City senior team, so they tend to have the numbers to fulfil all fixtures. Given that all competition in Oceania is semi-pro rather than professional, this may strike the rest of the world as a bit of a miracle. The love of the game tends to shine on through, however.

The prestige of becoming the first world champions in this competition's new format is part of the appeal of the Club World Cup, but it's undeniable that the prize money on offer is also a significant carrot at the end of the stick. The total prize pool stands at $1bn, with Auckland City guaranteed to make $3.58m, representing the club's biggest-ever payday. They will also take home $1m for every draw and $2m for any win, while an unlikely voyage into the knockout stage will keep the cheques coming.

However, back home, there has been much debate over how this jackpot will be divvied up. "The prize money has been a contentious issue from almost day one of the Club World Cup itself," Watson admitted. "Given the size of our football club and the gap that we have to try and overcome, it has become something of a distraction. We've tended to focus mainly on the operational side of things as a way to just clear the mind and focus. We'll leave those discussions about prize money up to other people."

The Navy Blues' main threat comes from their strikers, who will do well to see much of the ball against such strong opposition. Club legend Ryan De Vries, a South African-born attacker who has been capped five times by the New Zealand national team and was part of the side who finished third at the 2014 Club World Cup, only needs nine more appearances to become Auckland City's all-time leading appearance holder, with 202 games already under his belt, while he is also second in their scoring charts, still 49 goals off top spot.

Fellow forward Angus Kilkolly, who has 65 goals in 122 games for the club since joining from Team Wellington in 2021, is also a danger man, as is Myer Bevan in the final third. Attacking midfielder Dylan Manickum has been capped 63 times by the New Zealand futsal team, scoring 37 times, while Haris Zeb has been called into the Pakistan national setup in the recent past and will become the first player from the country to feature at a Club World Cup.

Auckland City are captained by defensive midfielder Mario Ilich, who is excited about the task ahead. He told Oceania Football: "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to play against some of the best in the world. We've been to Club World Cups before but with this new format and being put with three powerhouse teams is something we can't wait for."

A team of amateur part-timers have the unenviable task of trying to silence one of the world's best strikers of the 21st century. Since swapping Tottenham for Bayern in 2023, Harry Kane has found the net 82 times in 91 matches, become the first player to finish as the Bundesliga's top scorer in each of their first two seasons and finally ended his trophy drought.

"He's one of the most prolific goal-scorers in world football for the last five to six years. I can't say I won't let him score, but I'm going to do my best not to let him score!" defender Mitchell said. On the flip side, Kane has admitted: "Auckland is still an unknown opponent, and of course, we'll be the favourites on paper. But we know every team in this competition is strong. We have to prepare well, as we do for every game."

The squad value of Auckland City's entire team stands at around €5.2m, whereas Kane cost in excess of €100m and the Bayern squad is worth €843.5m altogether, according to BILD. If the New Zealanders manage to gain even a single point at the Club World Cup, it would go down as one of football's greatest underdog stories. That, even beyond the money, is worth playing for.