Soccer Ashes

Founded1923; 103 years ago

Teams2

Current champions

Most championships

Australia
(6 series wins)

Soccer Ashes
Founded	1923; 103 years ago (1923)
Teams	2
Current champions	Australia
Most championships	Australia (6 series wins)

The Soccer Ashes is an association football trophy contested by Australia and New Zealand.^[1] It was initially held between the 1920s and 1950s before the trophy was lost.^[2]^[3] The trophy was found in 2023, and a renewal was held in London in October.^[1]

The concept of awarding a trophy made of ashes was inspired by the Ashes urn awarded to the winner of series between Australia and England in cricket.

The Soccer Ashes were created in 1923 after New Zealand had defeated Australia in the inaugural series in 1922. The ashes consisted of the remains of cigars smoked by the two captains, Alec Gibb (Australia) and George Campbell (New Zealand), after the first match between the two teams on Australian soil in June 1923. The ashes were encased in a razor case used by Australian soldier, William Fisher during the Gallipoli campaign during World War I. Fisher was also the secretary of the Queensland Football Association.^[4] The case was then set in a box made of wood from both countries.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The whereabouts of the trophy were not known from the mid-1950s until it was found in 2023 at the estate of former Australian Soccer Football Association chairman Sydney Storey by his grandchildren.^[8]^[7] Upon the recovery of the trophy, the first edition of the match since 1954 was scheduled for October.^[1] It was played in London, with Australia winning the series.^[9]^[10]^[11]

The All Whites and Socceroos played a two-match series in September 2025. Australia won the first match 1–0 in Canberra and the second match 3–1 in Auckland, thereby securing the Soccer Ashes trophy.^[12]

List of Soccer Ashes series

S	Years	Host	M			D	Result
1	1922	New Zealand	3	0	2	1	New Zealand
2	1923	Australia	3	1	2	0	New Zealand
3	1933	Australia	3	3	0	0	Australia
4	1936	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	Australia
5	1948	New Zealand	3	3	0	0	Australia
6	1954	Australia	3	2	1	0	Australia
7	2023	England	1	1	0	0	Australia
8	2025	Australia, New Zealand	2	2	0	0	Australia

Editions

1922

17 June	New Zealand	3–1	Australia	Dunedin, New Zealand
	Cook 20', ?' Knott ?'	Report	Maunder 45'	Stadium: Carisbrook Attendance: 10,000~ Referee: M. Thornley (New Zealand)

24 June	New Zealand	1–1	Australia	Wellington, New Zealand
	Cook 10'	Report	Bratton 25'	Stadium: Athletic Park Attendance: 12,000 Referee: R.S. Lithgrow (New Zealand)

8 July	New Zealand	3–1	Australia	Auckland, New Zealand
	Ballard 5' Cook 10' Dacre ?'	Report	Brown ?'	Stadium: Carlaw Park Attendance: 15,000 Referee: L.C.H. Dawson (New Zealand)

New Zealand won 2−1–0 on series.

1923

9 June	Australia	2–1	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia
	Lennard 7' Maunder 90'	Report	Dacre 57'	Stadium: Brisbane Cricket Ground Attendance: 7,000^[13] Referee: M. Thornley (New Zealand)

16 June	Australia	2–3	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia
	Lennard ?' Gilmore ?'	Report	Campbell ?', ?', ?'	Stadium: Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 10,000 Referee: A. Jackson (Australia)

30 June	Australia	1–4	New Zealand	Newcastle, Australia
	Maunder ?'	Report	Campbell 46', 51', ?', ?'	Stadium: Newcastle Showground Attendance: 14,000 Referee: LB Tamlyn (Australia)

New Zealand won 2−0–1 on series.

1933

5 June	Australia	4–2	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia
	Smith 20', ?' Gorring ?', 80'	Report	Kershaw 55' Chapman ?'	Stadium: Brisbane Exhibition Ground Attendance: 5,000^[14] Referee: Z. Korotcoff (Australia)

17 June	Australia	6–4	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia
	G. Smith ?', ?', ?' Crowhurst ?' Cameron ?' Hughes ?'	Report		Stadium: Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 5,000 Referee: D. Quinn (Australia)

24 June	Australia	4–2	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia
	Edwards ?' Crowhurst ?' G. Smith ?', ?'	Report	Kershaw ?' (pen.), ?'	Stadium: Sydney Cricket Ground Referee: D. Quinn (Australia)

Australia won 3−0–0 on series.

1936

4 July	New Zealand	1–7	Australia	Dunedin, New Zealand
	Skinner ?' (pen.)	Report	Smith ?', ?', ?', ?' Price ?', ?' Cameron ?'	Stadium: Logan Park Attendance: 8,000 Referee: W.P. Smith (New Zealand)

11 July	New Zealand	0–10	Australia	Wellington, New Zealand
		Report	Smith 32', ?', 53', ?', ?' Price 9', ?' Cameron 28', 48' Donaldson ?'	Stadium: Basin Reserve Attendance: 8,000 Referee: G. Jackson (New Zealand)

18 July	New Zealand	1–4	Australia	Auckland, New Zealand
	Haggett ?'	Report	Cameron ?', ?' Price ?', ?'	Stadium: Blandford Park Attendance: 2,000 Referee: A. Firth (New Zealand)

Australia won 3−0–0 on series.

1948

14 August	New Zealand	0–6	Australia	Wellington, New Zealand
		Report	Parsons ?', ?', ?' Hughes ?', ?' Cunningham ?'	Stadium: Basin Reserve Attendance: ^[15] Referee: V. Wheeler (New Zealand)

28 August	New Zealand	0–7	Australia	Christchurch, New Zealand
		Report	Parsons ?', ?', ?' Hughes ?', ?' Cunningham ?' Johns ?'	Stadium: Lancaster Park Referee: T. Gottermeyer (New Zealand)

4 September	New Zealand	0–4	Australia	Wellington, New Zealand
		Report	Johns ?', ?' Hughes ?' Lawrie ?'	Stadium: Basin Reserve Attendance: 3,000 Referee: J. Sanderson (New Zealand)

Australia won 3−0–0 on series.

1954

14 August	Australia	1–2	New Zealand	Melbourne, Australia
14:45 UTC+10	Robertson 75'	Report	King 5' Steele Jr. 7'	Stadium: Melbourne Showgrounds Referee: George Gatt (Australia)

28 August	Australia	4–1	New Zealand	Brisbane, Australia
15:15	Robertson 19' Stewart 30', 88' Lennard 50'	Report	Smith 52'	Stadium: Brisbane Cricket Ground Attendance: 6,400 Referee: V. Robertson (Australia)

4 September	Australia	4–1	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia
15:00	Stewart ?' Nunn ?', ?' Murray ?'	Report	Steele Jr. ?'	Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground Attendance: 5,798 Referee: Dick Thorpe (Australia)

Australia won 2−0–1 on series.

2023

17 October

19:45 BST

Australia	2–0	New Zealand
Souttar 13' Irvine 76'	Report

Gtech Community Stadium, London

Attendance: 5,761

Referee: Stuart Attwell (England)

Australia^[16]

New Zealand^[16]


GK	1	Mathew Ryan (c)
RB	17	Lewis Miller	46'
CB	19	Harry Souttar
CB	23	Alessandro Circati
LB	5	Jordan Bos	66'
DM	20	Keanu Baccus
RM	6	Martin Boyle	82'
CM	21	Massimo Luongo	66'
CM	8	Connor Metcalfe	81'
LM	16	Aziz Behich
CF	15	Mitchell Duke	66'
Substitutions:
DF	13	Ryan Strain	46'
FW	9	Brandon Borrello	66'
FW	10	Craig Goodwin	66'
MF	22	Jackson Irvine	66'
MF	14	Aiden O'Neill	81'
FW	7	Samuel Silvera	82'
Manager:
Graham Arnold


GK	22	Michael Woud
CB	5	Michael Boxall	81'
CB	6	Bill Tuiloma	73'
CB	4	Nando Pijnaker
RM	20	Callum McCowatt
CM	7	Matthew Garbett
CM	8	Marko Stamenić
LM	13	Liberato Cacace
RF	16	Elijah Just	73'
CF	9	Chris Wood (c)	81'
LF	17	Alex Greive	67'
Substitutions:
FW	14	Joe Champness	67'
FW	19	Ben Waine	73'
DF	2	Niko Kirwan	73'
FW	21	Max Mata	81'
DF	18	Tyler Bindon	81'
Manager:
Darren Bazeley

Assistant referees:
Simon Bennett (England)
Lee Betts (England)
Fourth official:
Darren England (England)

2025

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Australia	4–1	New Zealand	1–0	3–1

5 September	Australia	1–0	New Zealand	Canberra, Australia
19:45 UTC+10	Balard 87'	Source		Stadium: GIO Stadium Attendance: 19,115 Referee: Donald Robertson (Scotland)

9 September	New Zealand	1–3	Australia	Auckland, New Zealand
19:00 UTC+12	Wood 57'	Source	Toure 35', 60' Irankunda 54'	Stadium: Mount Smart Stadium Attendance: 18,213 Referee: Donald Robertson (Scotland)

Australia won 4–1 on aggregate.

Performances

As of 9 September 2025^[update].

Overall Match Results:
Matches played	Australia wins	New Zealand wins	Draws
21	15	5	1

Overall Series Results:
Series played	Australia wins	New Zealand wins	Draws
8	6	2	0

v t e New Zealand men's national football team
General	New Zealand Football History Managers
Statistics	All-time record Records FIFA World Cup record FIFA Confederations Cup record OFC Nations Cup record Progression of goalscoring record
Results	1922–69 1970–99 2000–19 2020–present
Players	Players Captains Born outside New Zealand
Goals	Chris Wood
World Cups Finals	Summary 1982 2010
Nations Cup Finals	Summary 1973 1980 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2008 2012 2016 2024
Confederations Cups	Summary 1999 2003 2009 2017
Summer Olympics	2008 2016 2020 2024
Noted rivalries	Australia
Matches	Noted matches Soccer Ashes Trans-Tasman Cup
Other NZF teams	New Zealand B Youth U-23 U-20 U-17 Beach Futsal

List of Soccer Ashes series

Editions

1922

1923

1933

1936

1948

1954

2023

2025

Performances

Statistics

Goalscorers

See also

References

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