Australia and New Zealand play for the ‘Soccer Ashes’ due to a long-standing rivalry in football. The term originated from the cricket series between the two nations, where the losing team was said to have “lost the Ashes.” In football, the Soccer Ashes were established to commemorate the competitive spirit between the countries, with matches serving as a way to honor their shared history and sporting rivalry. The trophy symbolizes not just victory but also the camaraderie and competition that defines their encounters on the field.

Cliff Notes – Australia and New Zealand play for the ‘Soccer Ashes’

• The ‘Soccer Ashes’ trophy, originating from a 1923 match, symbolises the competitive spirit between Australia and New Zealand in football.
• Matches for the Soccer Ashes honour the shared history and sporting rivalry, with the trophy representing camaraderie alongside competition.

Why do Australia and New Zealand play for the ‘Soccer Ashes’?

• The term ‘Soccer Ashes’ draws inspiration from the cricket series between the two nations, where the losing team was said to have “lost the Ashes.”
• Established to commemorate their long-standing rivalry, the Soccer Ashes serve as a reminder of the bond between the countries through sport.

Joey Lynch

CloseJoey Lynch is a Melbourne-based sports journalist and AYA cancer advocate. Primarily working on football, he has covered the Socceroos, Matildas and A-Leagues for ESPN for over a decade.Sep 4, 2025, 02:15 AM

Unfortunately for Australia, they’ll enter the coming Ashes with their inspirational leader under a cloud.

Not Patrick Cummins, to be clear, who despite a back injury should be ready to captain Australia’s cricket side against England in November.

No, they’ll be without Mat Ryan, who has been left out of the Socceroos’ squad for fixtures against New Zealand across the next week after only just securing a move to Levante, as well as Jackson Irvine, who will miss as he continues his recovery from a foot injury suffered earlier in the year.

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Because while it’s by far and away the most well-known of the two — with good reason, since the celebrated urn that Australia and England battle for dates back to 1882 — it’s not just cricket that possesses a monopoly on competing for the “The Ashes.”

Football has its own version: the “Soccer Ashes” that serve as the prize whenever Australia and New Zealand clash.

In this case, the ashes aren’t the remains of a burnt cricket bail but, instead, the remnants of cigars smoked by Australian captain Alex Gibb and New Zealand captain George Campbell following a soccer match in 1923. The ashes were then sealed in a special silver-plated razor case that carried at the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli in 1915, which itself was then contained in a wooden casket built from a combination of New Zealand honeysuckle and Australian maple.

The silver safety razor case contains the ashes of cigars smoked by the Australian and New Zealand captains in 1923. Football Australia

Envisioned in 1923 a symbol of the bond between the two countries, the Soccer Ashes served as the prize during clashes between the Socceroos and All Whites until 1954, when they slipped into the anonymity that would define much of their existence.

Mentions of the Soccer Ashes simply disappeared from the public record, as did the trophy itself. Outside of a dogged few historians such as Trevor Thompson and Ian Syson, they would remain largely forgotten until 69 years later, when the grandchildren of former Australian Soccer Football Association (ASFA) chairman Sydney Storey, who had died in 1966, found the trophy — in immaculate condition and amongst a trove of other Australian footballing artefacts — in the garage of the Storey family home.

New Zealand has the chance to claim the Soccer Ashes for the very first time since 1923 when the two nations meet in Canberra on Friday; Australia won the first four series the Soccer Ashes were up for grabs prior to their disappearance, and then claimed a 2-0 win in the first meeting between the two nations following the trophy’s recovery in 2023.