4 Mar 2011

Chung welcomes NZ football hosting announcement

3:01 pm on 4 March 2011

The Oceania Football President, David Chung, has welcomed the announcement that New Zealand will host the 2015 Under 20 men's World Cup.

New Zealand beat out Wales for the hosting rights to a tournament which is broadcast in over 200 countries and has a cumulative audience of around 500 million viewers.

It is the second time in recent months that an OFC member has successfully bid for a FIFA tournament, after Tahiti won the right to host the Beach Soccer World Cup for 2013.

David Chung, who is also a FIFA Vice-President, says this shows Oceania is well respected on the international stage and that Pacific countries can compete with the rest of the world in the keenly-contested race to host FIFA events.

He says FIFA look forward to hopefully bringing the tournament to Christchurch, particularly after last weeks earthquake.