Auckland City earned a hefty payday for competing in the FIFA Club World Cup. Photo: stock
It was an epic mismatch — the paid professionals of Argentinian soccer club Boca Juniors up against the unpaid amateurs of Auckland City.
But the non-A League Kiwi side managed to score a goal and hold Boca Junior to a 1-1 draw in Nashville (Tuesday local time) to score unquestionably the biggest upset of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US.
The result did not matter in the least.
Boca Juniors had learnt during the interrupted game that they had been eliminated from the knockouts after Portugal’s Benfica upset Germany’s Bayern Munich 1-0.
Auckland were only there to play for pride after a 10-0 loss to Bayern and a 6-0 loss to Benfica. They ended with only one point on the group table.
A match report from FIFA’s website says the Kiwis attacked early and nearly scored after six minutes.
In the 26th minute, off their seventh corner of the match, Lautaro Di Lollo headed against the post and the ball rebounded in off the arm of the very busy Auckland goalkeeper Nathan Garrow.
Seven minutes into the second half, the Boca fans were left stunned when Kiwi PE teacher Christian Gray, 28, headed the ball in off a corner kick.
A 50-minute weather delay meant Boca had been knocked out by the Benfica-Bayern result when play resumed.
The result didn’t just salvage some pride for the Kiwis; they are reportedly walking away with US$4.8m ($7.38m) for their efforts as the Oceania confederation representative.
Auckland City is representing the region as NZ’s only professional clubs, Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix, play in the Asia Confederation-aligned A League.
Many of the Auckland players had to pay their own way to the tournament even as they juggle day jobs or studies.
Gray told media after the game that he has to return home to mark assignments that have piled up during the school holidays.
