On Saturday, March 8th, fans from across the globe gathered at Wembley Stadium for the sixth annual Sidemen Charity Match.
Since 2016, a youtube group called the Sidemen, a squad of content creators consisting of Zerkaa, Minimister, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, Harry “W2S” Lewis, and KSI. This group has held football matches against the Youtube AllStars, an eclectic team of YouTube content creators that comes together each year to go head-to-head against the Sidemen.
The Sidemen had some superstars alongside them, with Logan Paul, Mark Rober, xQc, along and many other YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and content creators all contributing to the team. The YouTube Allstars also had a stacked team, dominating the pitch with big names such as two members of the Beta Squad, Niko Omilana and Chunkz, MrBeast, iShowSpeed, Fanum, Jynxzi, Sketch, Kai Cenat, among many others!
This year, the Sidemen took on the Allstars in an intense game. This game was filled with poor defense, hard-to-watch plays, surprisingly impressive feats, and non-stop action. All the way through, the Sidemen and The Youtube Allstars went toe-to-toe, ending the first half with a 4-4 score.
During half-time, fans were able to enjoy a performance from UK rapper AJ Tracey, and a surprise rendition from Sidemen team member, KSI, giving an electrifying performance of his hit song Thick Of It for Wembley Stadium’s hyped-up crowd.
Coming out of half time, the Youtube Allstars were on fire, but the Sidemen pulled ahead. Just when the Sidemen thought they were going to come out victorious, YouTube Allstar’s Theo Baker earned himself a hattrick and tied the game 9-9 in the 90th minute. An intense penalty shootout then took place, with Youtube star iShowSpeed sealing the victory, ending the shootout with a 5-4 score. YouTube Allstars goalie and famed Twitch streamer Sketch was ultimately named Player of the Game for his decisive save during the shootout and athletic saves throughout the game.
This was a high traction game, with Wembley Stadium selling out all 90,000 seats in only three hours. More than 250,000 people were reportedly trying to access the portal. The game was also live streamed on YouTube, and the stream ended with more that 14 million views.
By the end of the game, more than 4.7 million euros had been raised, or 6.1 million dollars, nearly doubling the amount of money raised at the last game in 2023. According to the donation website, 50 percent will go to BBC Children in Need, 43 percent of the funds raised will go to Bright Side, the Sidemen’s own charity which doles out grants to youth and sports-focused nonprofits, and the remaining 7 percent will go to the charity M7 Education, which funds and organizes educational trips for British schoolchildren.
