1BSPORTS 1B Sports June 15 Oakland City will challenge Bayern in the first round of the Club World Cup group stage tonight, when Chinese player Zhou Tong is expected to get a chance to play.
In this Club World Cup, Auckland City from New Zealand is the only Oceania team, and they are in Group C with Bayern, Benfica and Boca youth. Zhou Tong, who plays for Auckland City, will embark on the Club World Cup again as the only Chinese player.
35-year-old Zhou Tong has played for Dalian Albin, Dalian Ren, Tianjin TEDA, Wuhan Zall and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger after TEDA’s name change. On March 1, 2023, New Zealand team Auckland City officially announced that Zhou Tong joined the team. So far, he has played 67 times for Auckland City and contributed 4 goals and 7 assists, and won three consecutive championships in the Oceania Champions League with the team.
Auckland City has already had 11 experiences in the Club World Cup, with the best result being the third place in 2014, but the last 9 participations were eliminated in the first round.
This is also Zhou Tong’s second time to compete in the Club World Cup with the team. At the end of 2023, he played for 22 minutes in the first round of the Club World Cup against Jeddah United and made his debut in the Club World Cup. It is also the second time that there are Chinese players competing in the Club World Cup after 8 years after Guangzhou Evergrande participated in the 2015 competition.
Unfortunately, due to the huge gap in strength, Auckland City lost 0-3 to Jeddah United and missed the opportunity to go further.