They hope for the next football hype. In 2010, New Zealand’s national team triggered exactly this by participating in the World Cup.
They hope for the next football hype. In 2010, New Zealand’s national team triggered exactly this by participating in the World Cup.
“It inspired young Kiwis to play this sport and that’s what we want to do again,” Logan Rogerson said in a post on FIFA’s website.
The 24-year-old, who once played for FC Carl Zeiss Jena, is under contract with FC Haka in Finland. With the national team he wants to make it into the World Cup finals in Qatar at the end of the year in Ar-Rayyan in the playoff game against Costa Rica today (20:00 CEST).
Football is catching up
“The qualification would massively strengthen football at home,” emphasized Rogerson. Rugby and cricket are still most popular with New Zealanders. If the third World Cup participation succeeds 40 years after the premiere in Spain, football should continue to catch up.
In addition, the association also rehabilitated itself financially with the entry into the finals in 2010. A few years earlier, it had been dependent on help from the government, wrote the New Zealand portal “stuff.co.nz.”. In 2021, the association had a financial reserve of almost seven million euros. “But we’re not looking at the match now so that we can pay our bills tomorrow,” quoted the portal as saying, association boss Andrew Pragnell. The winner of the match gets the last available World Cup seat and will play in Group E with Germany, Spain and Japan.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
