Football: More matches likely in Club Cup

Auckland City may get at least two games in future Club World Cups. AP

The days of a single 'death or glory' match for the Oceania representative at the Fifa Club World Cup could be coming to an end.

Next month Auckland City FC will fly almost 19,000km to face Moroccan champions Moghreb Ttouan in the opening game of this year's tournament.

The equation is frustratingly simple - win and progress to play at least two more matches or lose and fly straight home.

The formula has remained the same since 2007 but the Oceania Football Confederation are confident it will change next year. Under the terms of an OFC proposal, the tournament will be restructured to allow every competing team at least two matches.

The initial stages would see two groups of three teams (two from the host nation and the champions of Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America) play in a round-robin stage.

The winners would progress to the semifinals, where the European and South American giants would enter the competition.

"We are confident Fifa will look favourably at our proposal," said OFC President David Chung. "There are a lot of benefits. There would be more interest for the host nation [with two teams] and much more focus on the tournament. And it makes sense for every team to have two matches."

The current situation doesn't really help anyone. Pitting the host nation against the amateur Antipodeans in the first game means that after 90 minutes the tournament's true Cinderella story is gone, or, as happened in 2009, all local interest evaporates as the host nation makes a premature exit.

Fifa have had the current structure since 2007. Only once has the Oceania team progressed, when Auckland City won two games (including a 3-2 victory over African champions TP Mazembe) five years ago in Abu Dhabi.

The Oceania team have often performed well (a 1-0 loss to Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2012, taking eventual finalists Raja Casablanca to the wire last year) but don't get a chance to take the lessons learned into another match a few days later.

"Its always a huge challenge," said Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx, who has overseen the last three Club World Cup campaigns. "It's a big step up against professional teams - quite a massive step for us. But we always compete very well."

A final decision is expected after the tournament, which runs from December 11-21.