Seven Wellington Phoenix players have been called up to represent the New Zealand men’s U-20 team in Chile next month.
Phoenix first team squad members Luke Brooke-Smith, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Xuan Loke, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Jayden Smith and Luke Supyk, and Fergus Gillion from the club’s reserves team have been named in the 21-strong national squad.
The New Zealand U-20 men will play two matches against FIFA U-20 World Cup 2025 hosts Chile in Santiago in preparation for the tournament in September.
At 16, Brooke-Smith is the youngest member of the squad and is also eligible to be selected for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar in November.
Kelly-Heald is vying for a place at his second FIFA U-20 World Cup having represented New Zealand at the 2023 tournament in Argentina.
Loke, Sloane-Rodrigues, Supyk and Gillion were all part of the national squad which won last year’s OFC U-19 Championship in Samoa to qualify for the World Cup, and Smith has received an international call-up for the first time, having spent the 2024-25 season in the first team environment.
New Zealand U-20 men’s coach Chris Greenacre, who also coaches the Phoenix men’s reserves, says this is a really exciting squad.
“Some of which played big roles for us in the FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifiers and some of which are new to the group or this level,” Greenacre said. “So, I can’t wait to get into camp and get to work.
“Ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup this year time together is really important, so it is great to assemble this group and test ourselves against the World Cup hosts and in the host country.
“Getting games against non-OFC sides to prepare for what we will come up against in September is significant and Chile play a style of football that will be a good challenge for us.”
The first U-20 international between New Zealand and Chile will be played on Wednesday, June 4 (Thursday, June 5 NZT) at Complejo Deportivo Quilín with the second at Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida the following Saturday (Sunday NZT).
Both matches will kick off at 7:30am NZT.
