L. Brook-Smith

Luke Brooke-Smith made his senior debut for New Zealand as a substitute in a 3–1 loss to Australia in the Soccer Ashes series on 9 September 2025. He became the 645th All White and the second-youngest player to debut for the senior side, behind only Ceri Evans.

He came to football by a less direct route than most. Growing up around Whangārei, he was involved in BMX before he settled on football. He then went through the RH3 Academy in Waikato and on to the Wellington Phoenix youth setup.

His first senior football came in 2023 at Cambridge, where he made 10 appearances and scored five goals. A season with Hamilton Wanderers followed, with 15 league and two cup appearances. He joined Wellington Phoenix at 16 and split his time between the reserves in the National League and the A-League Men squad. He made around 38 appearances for the club and scored once, against Auckland FC in February 2025.

The youth national teams had already shown his scoring. He was in the New Zealand squad that won the OFC Under-16 Championship and scored in the final against Fiji. For the Under-17s he scored five goals in five appearances. In 2025 he played three matches at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile and scored once.

On 28 July 2026 he left Wellington for Portsmouth, in the English Championship, on a four-year contract. Clubs in Italy, Spain and MLS had also shown interest.