O-LEAGUE MATCH PROMISES A UNIQUE CELEBRATION OF CULTURES THIS SATURDAY!

Marquee signing, Ki-Hyung Lee, capped forty seven times by the Republic of Korea, is set to make his much-awaited debut for Auckland City FC this weekend.

On Saturday, Lee and his fellow Auckland City teammates, will face AS Manu Ura in the opening match of the 2007/08 Oceania Champions League (O-League).

Lee, a household name throughout Korea, is affectionately known as the "Cannon Shooter" by his legion of fans - a reference to the ferocity of his long-range shooting skills.

He has won Korea's professional competition, the K-League, three times and is hoping to help guide Auckland City to success in the O-League and also to a fourth successive NZFC title this season.

It is expected Auckland's local Korean community will turn out in force this Saturday to witness Lee in action.

Details of the match are as follows:

Date - Saturday 27 October
Time - 3pm
Venue - Croatian Cultural Society, 161 McLeod Road, Henderson
Tickets - Adults $10 / Senior Citizens $5 / Children 15 and under, free

Due to the comprehensive re-surfacing programme currently being undertaken at Auckland City's home ground at Kiwitea Street in Sandringham the club will play their first five home matches this season "away" in Henderson.

This temporary venue has itself undergone significant development in recent weeks and promises to provide an excellent atmosphere for this opening match of the 2007/08 O-League.

The Auckland City squad is represented by no less than eleven different nationalities and this encounter against the champion club side of Tahiti promises to be a colourful and vibrant event.

Adding to the cultural diversity of the occassion will be the pre-match and half-time entertainment provided by high profile Polynesian dance troupe, "Pacific Xpressions". The troupe led by Mary Jane Schwenke, one of the stars of the hit film "Sione's Wedding", is widely regarded as one of Auckland's foremost polynesian performance acts.

Media interest in the clash is already high with crews from TV One shows "Tagata Pasifika" and "Asia Downunder" being joined by cameras from the "South Seas Film and Television School" and "Sky Sport". MC for the afternoon is Denis Katsanos from Sky's "World of Football Show" while recently re-elected mayor of Waitakere City, Bob Harvey and local MP Chris Carter are amongst a host of local west Auckland identities set to attend the day.

Make sure you get out to the "Cro Club" this Saturday to witness a great day's entertainment for all of the family!

Auckland City FC Squad for the match is as follows:

1 Ross Nicholson GK
2 Joel Mathews
5 Ben Sigmund
6 Ki-Hyung Lee
7 James Pritchett
8 Chad Coombes
9 Paul Urlovic
10 Grant Young
11 Luiz Del Monte
12 Tamati Williams GK
14 Keryn Jordan
15 Jeff Campbell
17 Bryan Little
19 Salesh Kumar
20 Greg Uhlmann
22 Sam Mathews
23 Eliezer Anello
26 Rupesh Puna

Officials for the match are as follows:

Referee: Rakesh Varman (FIJI)
AR1: Tevita Makasini (TONGA)
AR2: Rohitesh Dayal (FIJI)
4th Official: Peter O'Leary (NZL)
Inspector: Ken Wallace (NZL)
OFC Delegate: Glyn Taylor (NZL)

Steve Vuksich
Auckland City FC
Team Media Officer