Phoenix fans plan invasion

At stake is a spot in the grand final against Melbourne Victory on Saturday 20 March.

The demand for tickets across the Tasman for the Sydney Football Stadium clash has been such that Phoenix asked Qantas for a special chartered flight to get fans from New Zealand to the game.

"The place is abuzz here and we have captured the imagination of the New Zealand sporting public," Phoenix chief executive Tony Pignata said.

"We are the hottest ticket in town at the moment and our match against Newcastle last Sunday will be the most attended sporting event (32,792) of our summer.

"There is huge interest from media and from fans who wants tickets, flights and accommodation. My phone has been running hot since Monday.

"I'm in discussion with Qantas at the moment to see if they can provide an extra plane for the fans.

"All flights to Sydney are totally booked out at the moment, so much so that we do not even know if the team itself can travel to Sydney on the Thursday."

Yellow Fever supporter group spokesman Guy Smith said he was hopeful a solution could be found to meet the fans' demands.

"All airline tickets that were available have disappeared," he said.

"The three of us who run Yellow Fever, for example, have no flights.

"As soon as the final whistle was blown in Sydney on Sunday many fans went on the internet to book their flights or packages.

"We could have as many as a thousand fans at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday but some of them could be locally based.

"It is quite costly to come to Australia for a couple of days and I think some fans are saving their money in case we make the grand final, which would be a match they would not want to miss."

Pignata said he wanted to take the opportunity to urge all New Zealand sporting fans, who live in or outside Sydney, to come to the match to support Phoenix.

"We urge all New Zealand fans to get to the SFS on Saturday so we can make it our home game as well," Pignata said.

"We are a new club and we need support in Australia. I want a 1000 fans out there supporting us."

A Qantas spokesman in New Zealand said the carrier would do everything in its power to accommodate the fans "as long as they show real interest in flying over".

"Our priority at the moment is to get the Phoenix team and staff to the game on the desired day," the spokesman said.