It’s a date: All Whites playoffs confirmed

Fifa extend window to accommodate travel required for intercontinental tie

The All Whites’ playoff dates against Peru are now locked in. Fifa has confirmed the home leg of their football World Cup qualifying playoff will be at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday, November 11, kicking off at 4.15pm.

The away leg will be played at the Estadio Nacional de Lima in Peru’s capital on Thursday, November 16, at 3.15pm (NZT).

New Zealand Football chief executive Andy Martin said it was great to have the dates confirmed for the biggest window of the year.

“We have been waiting for this confirmation for some time, so we are pleased we can start building towards hosting Peru on November 11,” said Martin.

He applauded Fifa, which had listened to the request of both national teams and recognised the exceptional travel in this international window for both sides and as a result extended the window.

“I am sure that was not an easy decision, but we feel it was the right one. With what is at stake — a place in the Fifa World Cup — we are pleased that Fifa have extended the window by a day and ensured that both teams will have a chance to travel, recover from their jet-lag and be at their best for home-and-away qualifiers that will be watched around the world.”

Martin said tickets for the home leg would go on sale on Tuesday at 12pm to the wait-list and general public on Friday at 12pm, and there was plenty of interest, with more than 10,000 fans already signed up on the wait-list.

“Football fans in this country have great memories of that magical night in Wellington when the All Whites beat Bahrain to qualify for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. The folklore around that game is huge,” said Martin.

“We want to recreate that atmosphere on November 11. We need all of New Zealand behind the All Whites as they look to create history and qualify for the Fifa World Cup. We know that when we get to Peru, we will be met with a very hostile environment, so we hope that our fans can create an atmosphere that gives our boys a huge lift in the opening match of the tie.”

We need all of New Zealand behind the All Whites as they look to create history and qualify for the World Cup. New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin

The All Whites have never played Peru. New Zealand advanced to the intercontinental playoff after beating the Solomon Islands 8-3 on aggregate in the final stage of Oceania qualifying. Peru finished as the fifthranked South American side after a gruelling 18-game qualification series that stretched over two years.

New Zealand have been to the World Cup in 1982 and 2010, while Peru have qualified for four World Cup finals but not since 1982.