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Football World Cup fever is gripping the Fergusson Park field today, as more than 450 aspiring footballers chase Otumoetai Football Club Junior World Cup trophy glory.

More than 450 junior footballers are taking to the field today. Photos by Cameron Avery.

Otumoetai, Papamoa, Waipuna and Mount Maunganui teams have slipped on their boots to represent the Bay of Plenty in the junior world cup, with clubs from as far field as Auckland, Hamilton and Cambridge also taking to the field.

Each team is representing a different country, in a miniature version of the fierce competition on the global stage – 2014's FIFA Football World Cup in Brazil and this year's FIFA Under 20 Football World Cup held right here in New Zealand.

Tournament director Gillian Carter says the competition is off to a great start, with quite a strong competition between clubs.

'There's a lot of close results including, one-nil, one-all, two-nil,” says Gillian. 'The sun is shining, everybody's having fun.”

Teams are split into Grades 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12/13. Pools of eight are squaring off in 15-minute matches each way, with the top two from each pool heading trophy to the play-off stage.

Otumoetai is doing well on the field so far, beating Hukanui 6-1 and a draw against a Cambridge team.

Waipuna scored one-all against Claudelands and 2-1 against Three Kings.

Papamoa won their first game, with Mount Maunganui's results yet to be tallied.

Teams will head into the semi-finals at 2.30pm.