All Whites stranded in Wellington

Tommy Smith leads the All Whites out onto Westpac Stadium. Photosport

Several of the All Whites' European based players may be forced to miss matches for their club sides this weekend, after being stranded in Wellington on Wednesday.

Like everyone else in the capital, the majority of the New Zealand team was unable to leave Wellington yesterday as fog blanketed the city and caused cancellation of more than 100 flights.

Most of the overseas based All Whites were already on a tight schedule to return home for this weekend's games and the events of yesterday have complicated things further.

The likes of Tommy Smith, Ryan Thomas and Themi Tzimpoluous are likely to miss all of their club team's trainings this week, and will also have much less time to get over the fatigue induced by jet lag.

Even local players are affected though, with Clayton Lewis set to forgo most of Auckland City's preparations for the Stirling Sports Premiership grand final this Sunday.

After everything had gone smoothly on the pitch on Tuesday evening - with a comfortable 2-0 over Fiji - Wednesday was a logistical nightmare for All Whites management.

Five players were able to leave on early flights - Jai and Dane Ingham, Deklan Wynne, Kip Colvey and Michael Boxall - before all subsequent flights were suspended from 7am onwards.

Most of the team remained at the airport, as flights were shuffled and rebooked during the day, before all flights were officially cancelled just before 5pm.

A contingency plan had already been put in place, and around 24 different flights have had to be rebooked for the squad. The All Whites management also had to find eight extra rooms for their players at their central city hotel, which was already at bursting point.

Meanwhile, most of the New Zealand Football staff faced a marathon journey back to their Auckland headquarters. They left on a chartered bus just after 5pm on Wednesday evening, stayed overnight in Taupo, then headed on to Auckland on Thursday morning.

Most of the overseas-based All Whites still in Wellington are expected to depart this afternoon, before picking up flights to Europe from Auckland tonight.