Nearly everyone living in New Zealand must know about the All Whites win against Bahrain on Saturday evening. The stadium in Wellington, which holds 32,000 people, was full. About half a million people watched the game live on Sky and another 300,000 watched it later in the evening. It was a very exciting time for New Zealand as the All Whites will now play in the World Cup in South Africa in June next year. This will be the first time for 28 years that New Zealand has had a team in the Soccer World Cup.
The win also brings about $10m from FIFA. New Zealand will probably use the money for a full-time coach for the All Whites and for the development of young players. Perhaps some of the money will be used to keep New Zealand players here instead of overseas. In the team which played on Saturday, only six members live in New Zealand at the moment. The others play for teams in Australia or the UK but they return when the All Whites need them.
World Cup games will be held in nine cities in South Africa. The stadiums are very big. The biggest stadium, which is in Johannesburg, has 94,700 seats. The second biggest, in Cape Town, has 70,000 seats. Anyone who wants to buy tickets for games in the World Cup can expect to pay US$80 for the cheapest ticket to one of the first games and US$900 for a really good seat at the finals. |