Pim Verbeek Arrives in Australia

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The Socceroos will kick off their campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup at Melbourne's Telstra Dome on February 6 next year against Qatar, Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Ben Buckley and newly-appointed Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek said at a media conference in Melbourne.

The match will be a crucial opening encounter for the Socceroos on the road to South Africa and the first World Cup qualifying match for Australia through the Asian Confederation.

"This match will be absolutely crucial and it is very important that the team gets off to a positive start ahead of a long and challenging campaign," said Verbeek, who arrived in Australia on Thursday.

"I am hoping that the stadium will be full of Australian supporters getting behind the team because making the most of home ground advantage will be vital throughout the Asian World Cup qualification matches."

Australia face a tough initial challenge grouped alongside Asian champions Iraq, China and Qatar with only the top two teams from the group to advance to the second and final round of qualifying.

"This match will be the first opportunity for fans to see the Qantas Socceroos in a World Cup match at home since that historic night against Uruguay in Sydney, and it will be crucial that the team gets off to a winning start in their first match on the road to South Africa," said Buckley.

"Football has received unprecedented support in Melbourne in recent times and I'm sure that both Victory supporters and sports fans in general will come out in force to get behind Australia."

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday 14 December with over 12,000 tickets having already been snapped up by members of the Football Family in just two days.

The Victorian State Government through the Victorian Major Events Corporation is proud to be supporting Australia's match against Qatar, which is the third game in the State's four-match package with the FFA.

The Qatar match will further cement Melbourne's reputation as the sporting capital of Australia and the world's event city.

Should Australia progress into the next stage of qualifying, they will join nine other nations split into two groups of five teams. The top two from each of the groups will automatically qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, while the two third-placed teams will play-off for the right to meet the Oceania qualification winner. The winner of that play-off will also go through to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

The match between will be the first time that the two nations have played against each other.