All Whites coach Ricki Herbert hopes the money that comes with his team’s qualification for the 2010 World Cup soccer finals will not be squandered.

New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 here last night to earn a place in the finals for the first time in 27 years.

New Zealand Football chief executive Michael Glading last week said a win would generate between $US8 million ($A8.67 million) and $US10 million ($A10.84 million), but would not say how the pot would be split.

However, the New Zealand Professional Footballers’ Association confirmed the players would receive a cut.

Speaking after last night’s game, Herbert said he hoped the money would be used to promote the game better than it had been in 1982.

“They better spend the bloody money right, because we’re not going down that pathway again, surely,” he said.

“We’ve waited 27 years to resurrect something that’s incredibly important to all of us; incredibly important to players, to the public, to the kids.”

Herbert was unsure how the money would be split, but said there needed to be serious deliberation about where it went.

“There’re kids out there that need to be supported. We need to roll that forward in a very productive way so we become a country that’s a regular at these events,” he said.

“This may be an opportunity to invest a little bit as well in the futures of some talented young players.”

John Adshead, the 1982 All Whites coach, said problems arose then when the sport’s national body tried to renegotiate the prizemoney split a month out from the World Cup.

“It was a surprise and I made a threat that if the team did not get what it deserved, then I would not continue with the campaign, that I would resign,” he said.

Adshead said the total money available for qualifying for the 1982 World Cup was $NZ1.2 million ($A952,570).

“Our players were amateurs and had given their lives to this campaign for 18 months, so they needed something back,” he said.

© AAP 2012

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