Football: Dunedin possibility for All Whites game

Grant McKavanagh.
Grant McKavanagh.
It has not yet been confirmed but it is possible the All Whites could play one of their three home World Cup qualifying games in Dunedin.

The All Whites start the next stage of their World Cup campaign against New Caledonia in Noumea on September 7.

New Zealand Football has yet to decide the venues for the home games against the Solomon Islands (September 11), Tahiti (October 16) and New Caledonia (March 22).

NZF chief executive Grant McKavanagh told the Otago Daily Times from Auckland yesterday that "we have already had some initial discussions with the stadium down there.

"We will be asking the different venues for terms and conditions and then we will make decisions based on that. Dunedin is certainly in our thinking."

Dunedin Venues Management Limited chief executive David Davies hopes Forsyth Barr Stadium will get one of the three games.

"We know that they are looking for venues around the country," Davies said.

"We have good relations with New Zealand Football and at some stage we anticipate a discussion with them."

Davies has been attempting to get the All Whites to play in Dunedin since the $224 million stadium was officially opened last year.

The Wellington Phoenix played two games in Dunedin last year and NZF chairman Frank van Hattum and McKavanagh were at the games.

"They talked with Dunedin Venues about staging one of the World Cup qualifying games in Dunedin," Footballsouth chief executive Bill Chisholm said.

"There is a distinct possibility of getting one of the games down here."

The last time the All Whites played in Dunedin was in 1988 against Australia.

The city was also the venue for New Zealand's first international when it played Australia at Carisbrook in 1922.

 

 

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