MIAMI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Auckland FC is the undoubted minnow of the FIFA Club World Cup, which kicks off on Saturday in the United States, and the New Zealand outfit has arguably the toughest route to the knockout stages.

Auckland qualified as champion of Oceania, and has a daunting task ahead in a group containing Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors, kicking off against Bayern on Sunday.

Speaking to Spanish sports paper Diario AS, Auckland's Spanish midfielder Gerard Garriga explained the difficulties of playing for a club where nearly all the players are semi-professional and have had to take holiday to travel to the U.S..

"I work at the club's academy and work on projects to promote football in Auckland. The rest of my teammates have other full-time jobs: there are teachers, office workers, warehouse workers, painters, estate agents," he said.

Auckland has been Oceania champion for four consecutive years, but Garriga insisted that the competition was much tougher than it may sound.

"The game is played at over 30 degrees, with 90 percent humidity, at 12 noon, and the pitches aren't the best," said the Spaniard, describing the OFC Champions League as "the toughest competition you can find."

Garriga said that playing at previous, smaller-scale editions of the Club World Cups had been daunting. "When you're on the pitch, you feel totally exposed. You can see the difference, and there are times when you suffer."

"If I suffered against the Asian or African champion, imagine against Bayern," he admitted.

Discussing Benfica and Boca Juniors, Garriga admitted that "when the draw was made, we were amazed by the three teams we were drawn, but now I think maybe we could have done with a weaker opponent."

"When Boca Juniors came out, I thought: 'wonderful.' Being able to play against Boca Juniors is wonderful, and what I'm most looking forward to is seeing the atmosphere in the stadium," he continued.

However, Garriga was unhappy with the Club World Cup's distribution of prize money. Auckland receives 3.58 million dollars for competing, considerably less than the tournament's European and Latin American sides.

"We're not happy with the distribution because the difference with the rest of the clubs is very large. We have to pay for a lot of things. Travel, hotels, friendlies. And in the end, what we're left with are the crumbs."

"I think everything should be more equal," insisted the midfielder. ■