Brazil's Sao Paulo beat English Premier League club Liverpool in the 2005 final which, not surprisingly, featured the champions of South America and Europe.

One of the criticisms of the 2005 tournament was that it lacked atmosphere because no local Japanese club was involved.

Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad represented Asia and again is in contention for 2006.

No Japanese clubs figure in the last eight of the Asian Champions League _ the regional qualifying tournament _ and Japan's last hope of having a representative at the World Club Championships was the mooted playoff against Auckland.

The OFC lost its strongest member when Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation earlier this year, leaving New Zealand atop the regional group that comprises 10 other Pacific Ocean federations.

Temarri said for a time the OFC had considered relenting to pressure to concede direct entry to FIFA's major tournaments, but had decided it was in the best interests of regional development to continue.

Auckland City received a US$1 million (euro775,000) windfall for qualifying and Temarri said that would help with player recruitment.

Coach Allan Jones has conceded Auckland City would have a "mammoth mountain" to climb in Japan.

Despite being buoyant after Sunday's decision, Temarri said Oceania would not be seeking an automatic slot at the World Cup at least for a decade.

Australia qualified for Germany 2006 after winning the Oceania qualifying series last year and then beating Uruguay, the fifth-place South American team, in a home-and-away playoff.

The Australians, in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1974, will open their campaign here on June 12 against Asian champion Japan.