Auckland City FC Earmarks $900,000 For Its Landmark Football Pitch Project In Community

Amateur club Auckland City Football Club has had one of the most remarkable years in its 21-year history. In just the last few months, the club represented the Oceania Football Confederation at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, where it came away with the upset of the tournament, a 1-1 draw with legendary Argentinian club Boca Juniors in Nashville; took on African champions Pyramids FC in the FIFA Intercontinental Playoff in Cairo; and finished in the top four of the Northern League to earn a qualification spot in the 2025 Men’s National League. As defending champion, Auckland City FC now has a chance to go for back-to-back titles.

Amid all the work on the pitch, Auckland City FC is doubling down on its support of local grassroots football. The club initiated the Mount Roskill Schools Project and has now earmarked $900,000 of the prize money it brought home from the FIFA Club World Cup for the flagship project, a major community sports infrastructure programme to raise and construct an artificial football pitch and associated facilities on the Mt Roskill Intermediate School grounds, shared with Mt Roskill Primary and Mt Roskill Grammar Schools. The project site is in the neighbourhood of Auckland City FC’s home ground on Kiwitea Street in Sandringham.

The $7.15 million project will raise the ground on the low-lying swamp zone alongside Oakley Creek and install a multi-purpose, all-weather synthetic sports facility to serve more than 2,000 students and the wider public. With a likely start date of early summer and targeted completion by mid-2026, the project includes warm-up areas, a new changing/shower block, upgrading of the existing pavilion, construction of a full-sized artificial football pitch, floodlighting, and upgrading of existing carparking.

The project is supported by Auckland Council and the Ministry of Education and endorsed by Northern Region Football and Māori Football Aotearoa. It is led by the Roskill Schools Community Trust, a charitable trust formed by local educators, civic leaders, and Auckland City FC. In July the Auckland Council Sport and Recreation Facilities Investment Fund confirmed a significant grant of $2.65 million to the Roskill Schools Community Trust.

Designed to meet international standards, the project will feature a high-performance artificial playing surface and integrated multi-sport court infrastructure to support a variety of sporting activities. It will have a sustainable drainage and eco-conscious surfacing system and a lighting system to enable safe and inclusive evening use. Access will be managed securely to allow for community scheduling during weekends and after-hours.

The project involves collaboration between Auckland City FC, local kura, community groups, and whānau, and embraces Te Ao Māori values of whanaungatanga (connection), manaakitanga (care and upliftment), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and tūrangawaewae (place of belonging).

Auckland City FC chairperson Ivan Vuksich says, “This is a legacy project for our club and we are pleased to be getting it underway after many years of planning. We have brought together a variety of supporters to back the project and have invited NZ Football to be involved as the governing body of the sport in New Zealand.

“Our club has been running a coaching and after-school programme at Mt Roskill Intermediate for the past four years, and this is the next important step in enriching our football community. We are proud to be contributing governance, coaching, and financial support to this project, which, like our club, combines world-class ambition with deep local heart.”

Mt Roskill Intermediate School principal Kristen Walsham says the new pitch and facilities will be an amazing asset for the school, which has an increasing roll and rising interest in football. “We are a vibrant, multicultural, and growing school with a roll exceeding 588 students as of July. Our football academy has also seen tremendous growth, expanding from 60 students four years ago to serving 250 students every Friday. Our Year 7 girls’ football team recently won the Central Zone Futsal Tournament and placed 2nd in the Auckland Interzone Championship.

“An all-weather football turf on our school grounds will bring enormous benefits to our school, our feeder schools, and the wider Mt Roskill community. The existing turf is too waterlogged in the winter months for our students to use safely, and the opportunity to participate in sport and active play year-round is wonderful for them and our community.”

As a foundational partner in the delivery of the Mount Roskill Schools Project, Auckland City FC has played a leading role in shaping its purpose and impact. The club brings strategic oversight, deep community ties, and a commitment to equitable access to sport.

As well as the key $900,000 contribution, which reinforces the club’s grassroots development ethos and belief in sport as a platform for social inclusion, Auckland City FC is providing governance leadership to ensure long-term accountability, facilitating fundraising to secure multi-channel investment, offering professional training resources to empower student-athletes and educators, and sustaining mentoring and engagement programmes that activate youth participation.

Fact Sheet

· The Mount Roskill Schools Project will create a vibrant centre for physical wellbeing, inclusion, and long-term community collaboration. Mt Roskill is home to 30,000 residents, many of whom come from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The area has long been a hotbed for football talent, but a lack of high-quality facilities has hindered opportunities for young players to develop and for community football to thrive.

· The Mount Roskill Schools Project aims to change that by creating an environment where football can flourish year-round, providing access to modern infrastructure that benefits not only the students but the entire local population.

· Beyond infrastructure, Auckland City FC’s community coaching programme – delivered by players and volunteers from both Auckland City FC and sister club Central United FC – has already begun alleviating social issues within the school.

· Details of the Mount Roskill Schools Project:

o Artificial turf – 102m x 67m (plus 4.5m run-offs at ends and 2.75m at sides) – includes:

• Earthworks, imported filling to raise pitch above the flood plain, basecourse layers, geotech cloth, kerbing, and 1.8m-wide pathway and refurbish to perimeter.
• FIFA-standard turf and shock padding.
• Subsoil drains, cesspits, stormwater drains, and manholes.
• Fencing to perimeter.
• Lighting and electrical including switchboards, controllers, cabling, ducting, 6 light poles, and lighting level of 250 lux.
• Field equipment, goalposts, nets, corner flags, dugouts, and the like.

o Changing rooms / shower block and storeroom – approximate GFA 240m².

o Refurbish existing pavilion.

o Turf and drainage over existing tennis courts – approx. 2500m².

o Clean and tidy up existing parking area.

o Temporary site access road, safety fencing, temporary road crossing from Frost Road, access gate including gateman, traffic management, and truck wash bay.

o Professional fees, resource and building consent fees and charges.

o Design and development contingency.

· Auckland City Football Club was formed as an incorporated society in 2004 to compete in the newly introduced summer National League. Auckland City FC has since competed in every iteration of that League, which now comprises 32 teams.

· Auckland City FC has won the Men’s National League and the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League numerous times. This has qualified the club for the FIFA Club World Cup/Intercontinental Cup 14 times, more than any other team in the world.

About Auckland City Football Club

Auckland City Football Club is based in Sandringham, Auckland. It was founded as an incorporated society and has been active in competitive domestic, regional, and international football since 2004-05’s inaugural season. Auckland City FC competes in the 12-team Northern League, part of New Zealand Football’s National League (which replaced the ISPS Handa Premiership (New Zealand Football Championship). Auckland City FC won that previous competition in eight of 17 years). Auckland City FC is an amateur club whose players have full-time occupations outside of football.

Auckland City FC has won the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Champions League 13 times, with the first crown in 2006, and remains Oceania’s premier football club. The club fields 12 teams, including a senior men’s team and youth teams ranging from under-13 to under-23. Auckland City FC also supports men’s and women’s futsal teams in collaboration with Northern Regional Football.

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