Team Wellington off to club World Cup

Team Wellington have become the third New Zealand team to qualify for the Club World Cup, after winning the OFC Champions League for the first time.

They beat Lautoka 4-3 at Churchill Park in Fiji in the second leg of the final yesterday, completing a 10-3 aggregate win that was never in doubt once they won the first leg 6-0 at home last weekend.

Midfielder Mario Ilich had a first-half brace, while substitute Ross Allen and Angus Kilkolly scored in the second spell, with Lautoka netting three meaningless goals late on, through Benji Totori and Shazil Ali.

The seven-goal margin was the largest in an OFC Champions League final, eclipsing the fivegoal margins seen on several occasions.

Team Wellington’s win brings to an end a summer football season that began on October 15 last year, when they beat Auckland City 3-1 to open the national league season. They may have ended up losing to City in April’s national league grand final, but dethroning the Aucklanders in Oceania, where they were seventime defending champions, makes this a historic season.

When the new season begins in October, the men from the capital will be seeking to reclaim the national league title and defend their regional title, but they will be paying special attention to December, when they will travel to the United Arab Emirates for the Club World Cup.

The tournament involves the winners of the most recent Champions League in each confederation, with the European champions – this year, Liverpool from England or Real Madrid from Spain – always the favourites.

The most recent champion from the host nation also competes, facing the Oceania champion to begin the tournament. New Zealand teams have competed 11 times previously, getting past the opening playoff twice – when Auckland City went on to finish fifth in 2009 and third in 2014.