7 hours ago
You what!? Bayern's Club World Cup opponent have multiple squads
The new Club World Cup is starting in just a few days. 32 teams from all over the world will compete in the USA for the new golden trophy. In the lead-up to the tournament, one question kept coming up: Will the top teams bring their best squads, or will good players who have had a heavy workload be rested or perhaps even left at home?
As it now appears, fans can look forward to seeing all the superstars. It would probably be quite unusual for some clubs to compete with a completely changed squad. But for one club, that's definitely not the case. Bayern's group opponent, Auckland City FC, is completely used to sending entirely different squads to different matches. Excuse me, what!?
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The reasons for the various squads of the New Zealand record champions can be boiled down to two important factors. First, the enormous distances the club has to travel for matches, and second, the incredibly packed schedule.
For Auckland City, 'English weeks' (multiple matches per week) are the norm. In addition to the New Zealand league, the club also competes in the national Chatham Cup and the OFC Champions League.
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The regular league matches aren't really the problem. The top division in New Zealand is split into three different leagues: North, Central, and South. Things get tricky, however, when the Champions League comes around.
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This is where it gets really hairy. In the Oceanian Champions League, alongside teams from Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, there are also plenty of clubs from the Pacific islands like New Caledonia, Fiji, or French Polynesia. For the CL opener against AS Pirae, a club from the latter, Auckland had to fly a whopping 4,000 kilometers.
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As if that weren't wild enough, there are often scheduling overlaps, so Auckland might have to play on a faraway island on Wednesday and then be back in action in the domestic league on Friday. That's when the second squad comes into play.
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To prevent the players from being completely overworked all the time, the club sometimes sends one squad to the international matches, while another stays home to fight for the championship.
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And it gets even crazier. The entire competition, both in New Zealand and in the OFC CL, is only semi-professional. Almost all of Auckland City's players have regular jobs alongside their football careers and often have to use their vacation days for the long-distance matches.
It's clear, of course, that the club shouldn't pose too much of a hurdle for FC Bayern in the fight for the knockout stage. Still, you can only respect the Auckland City players for everything they endure to compete for titles in the world's most beautiful sideshow.
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And one thing is certain: At a major tournament like the Club World Cup, it was surely crystal clear to the players that no one would be rested and that they would travel with a full squad to experience this moment. After all, they're already used to the long flights.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
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