Junior football teams around New Zealand will be the first to see benefit from New Zealand’s FIFA World Cup qualification windfall with 3500 newly trained coaches for the 2010 winter season.

Auckland City remained unbeaten at the top of the New Zealand Football Championship (NZFC) table after a pulsating 2-1 derby victory over neighbours and closest rivals Waitakere United.

Football Ferns Renee Leota and Kirsty Yallop fired Capital Football and Auckland Football into the semi-finals of the Lion Foundation Women’s League with hat tricks in respective wins over FootballSouth and Waikato-BOP on Sunday.

With their playoff spots all but secured, Auckland Football and Capital Football can books top spot – and avoid each other in the semi-finals – with fourth round wins on Sunday.

New Zealand Football Chairman Frank van Hattum has publically backed the Wellington Phoenix’s decision not to release All Whites coach Ricki Herbert for the final draw of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, instead giving...