Soccer: Waitakere to face Iranian side in club champs

Waitakere United will face Iranian club side Sepahan in a Fifa club soccer World Cup play-off on December 7, after the Asian Champions League title was decided today.

Reigning Japanese league champions Urawa Red Diamonds beat Sepahan 3-1 on aggregate in the final of the Asian Champions League to claim Asia's berth in the Fifa World Club Cup, leaving Sepahan to assume the play-off place that had been reserved for this year's J-League champions had a non-Japanese side won the Asian title.

Taking a break from their New Zealand Football Championship campaign, Waitakere United will play Sepahan on December 7 in Tokyo with the winners facing Urawa in the quarterfinal three days later. The winners of that match progresses to a glamour semifinal match-up with European Champions AC Milan.

Sepahan's Croatian coach Luka Bonacic was player-coach of Auckland's Central AFC (now Central United) in the Northern League in the late 1980s for two years.

- NZPA