Football: Auckland City glory comes with $50k bill

Auckland City players celebrate beating Mexico's Cruz Azul to third place in the Fifa Club World Cup. Photo / Getty Images

Auckland club hit with airfare surcharges after unexpected success in Fifa World Cup.

Auckland City might be in the money after their heroics at the Fifa Club World Cup, but the acclaimed amateur players have been brought back to reality with a thud, forced to stump up almost $50,000 of their winnings for economy class seats to ensure they get home in time for Christmas.

The ASB Premiership club made history yesterday as they beat North American champions Cruz Azul of Mexico on penalties to claim third place at Fifa's biggest club tournament.

There was also an individual honour for City captain Ivan Vicelich, who was awarded the adidas bronze trophy for being third-best player at the tournament.

Their thrilling progress captured the imagination of the New Zealand public, becoming one of the feelgood sporting stories of the year.

Their unexpected success saw the part-time footballers playing on the same fields as football galaticos Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos.

But it created a logistical challenge as administrators worked to get the players and staff back to New Zealand, with the side never expected to get as far as they did.

"I don't know what the final bill will be but I think we have already spent close to $45,000 to change tickets and buy new flights," said Auckland City chairman Ivan Vuksich. "It's been a lot of work."

The team were initially booked to leave Morocco the day after their first match against Moghreb Tetouan on December 11. They won on penalties, then three days later caused another shock by beating African champions ES Setif to progress to the semifinal. That victory extended their stay in Morocco by almost a week.

"We went back to our airline and were told that, in some cases, there were simply no seats available on those dates we needed," Vuksich said. "There were some seats available in early January, but that just wasn't practical."

The club has had to shell out for higher fares and buy seats on other flights to ensure the players can be home for Christmas.

Watch: Auckland City FC - Thank you

The first group will arrive back tomorrow morning. Others will arrive in two separate groups later that day and some, including coach Ramon Tribulietx, will instead head to Europe.

Fifa covers the costs of all competing teams' travel to the Club World Cup - but only to a point. It asks them for quotes, verifies the amounts and then deposits the money into a bank account.

That is where its involvement stops, and costs associated with travel on dates other than the one specified are the clubs' responsibility.

"It's part of the deal and you just have to live with it," Vuksich said. "It hasn't helped being so close to Christmas when a lot of flights are full."

Plans are being put in place for a civic welcome to celebrate the team's achievement. The chief executive of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Brett O'Riley, said the organisation was in discussions with the club to plan "an appropriate civic welcome for the team in the New Year".

"No formal plans are in place at this stage but we look forward to working with the team in due course."

Mr Vuksich said the recognition meant a lot.

"To be recognised by the civic leaders is absolutely wonderful."

City's road to glory
*Auckland City 0 Moghreb Tetouan 0 (Auckland won 4-3 on penalties)
*Auckland City 1 ES Setif 0
*Auckland City 1 San Lorenzo 2 (after extra time)
*Auckland City 1 Cruz Azul 1 (Auckland won 4-2 on penalties)

- additional reporting: Morgan Tait