The Sidemen Charity Match is a recurring charity football match organised by British YouTube group the Sidemen. Founded in 2016, the event features two teams of influencers contesting a friendly match whilst raising money for various British charities.
The fourth charity match, held in 2022, is recognised by Guinness World Records for the highest live viewership on a YouTube charity sports match, peaking at over 2.5 million viewers. As of March 2025, the events have raised over £8.5 million for various British charities.
Prior to the first Sidemen Charity Match, five members of the group—all except KSI and Vikkstar123—participated in the inaugural EE Wembley Cup on 8 August 2015 as part of Sidemen United, a team that was established for the match; they lost 5–2 against Spencer FC.[1] The Wembley Cup was held annually for three more years without Sidemen United, although Sidemen members W2S, TBJZL and KSI participated in the 2017 edition as part of Tekkers Town, who lost 6–1 to Hashtag United.[2]
2016: St Mary's
The inaugural Sidemen Charity Match was held at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, on 3 June 2016, raising over £110,000 for the Saints Foundation.[3][4] Over 600,000 people watched the livestream on YouTube—a record for YouTube Gaming at the time—and 15,000 people attended the match;[4] the stadium only permitted the Sidemen to fill the stadium to half-capacity.[citation needed] In addition to the seven Sidemen members, notable players included grime musicians Jme and P Money, as well as fellow YouTubers Joe Sugg and ChrisMD.[citation needed] Sidemen FC won the match 7–2, including a hat-trick from Miniminter.[5]
2017, 2018, 2022: The Valley
The Sidemen Charity Match was held at the Valley three times between 2017 and 2022.
The 2023 edition was held at London Stadium and raised over £2.4 million.
A fifth match was held on 9 September 2023 at the 62,000-capacity London Stadium,[17] the home stadium of Behzinga's supported team West Ham United.[18] Sidemen FC defended the title with a 8–5 victory over the YouTube Allstars.[19] Rapper Aitch performed for the inaugural halftime show.[20] Debutants included Airrack, xQc, JiDion, Kai Cenat, AboFlah and Jacksepticeye.[21]Max Fosh went viral for his yellow card incident, where he showed referee Clattenburg an Uno "Reverse" playing card.[22] KSI performed Cristiano Ronaldo's trademark "siuuu" celebration when he saved a penalty from IShowSpeed, a prominent Ronaldo fan.[23] The match raised over £2.4 million for CALM, Teenage Cancer Trust, Rays of Sunshine and M7 Education—the same charities as in 2022.[19]
2025: Wembley Stadium
The 2025 edition raised over £4.5 million after selling out Wembley Stadium.
In November 2024, the Sidemen announced a sixth match would be held,[24] later revealing it would take place on 8 March 2025 at Wembley Stadium, the largest stadium in the United Kingdom.[25] The event sold out within three hours after ticket sales went live, drawing 90,000 spectators.[26] The halftime show was performed by rapper AJ Tracey, with KSI also performing "Thick of It".[27] Following a 9–9 draw, the YouTube Allstars won the subsequent penalty shoot-out 5–4.[28] The squad list featured Mark Rober, Logan Paul, CarryMinati and Jynxzi.[29] In a reiteration of his skit from the 2023 edition, Fosh responded to another yellow card from Clattenburg by putting it in a pocket-sized paper shredder.[30] The match raised over £4.7 million for BBC's Children in Need (50%), Sidemen's Bright Side (43%) and M7 Education (7%), and drew in over eight million live viewers.[27][26]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
