Eight days before hosting its first cup final of 2025, Wembley Stadium got a rousing warm-up act.
More than 90,000 spectators packed the stands of England’s national soccer arena Saturday to watch the Sidemen Charity Match, which pits a team comprised of British YouTube group The Sidemen and some of their frequent collaborators (called “Sidemen FC”) against a team comprised of other well-known YouTube influencers (the “YouTube Allstars”).
Saturday’s match marked the sixth Sidemen Charity Match, but the first edition in nearly 18 months and the first time ever at Wembley. Tickets had sold out in less than three hours after going on sale in November with more than 250,000 trying to access the portal when it went live, according to The Athletic. Additionally, the live stream of the match on YouTube had over 14 million views and counting as of Saturday afternoon at 5 ET.
By comparison, next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley between Liverpool and Newcastle will attempt to topple a viewership record of 4.26 million on British television set by Manchester United’s win over Newcastle in the 2023 final. The English Football League said the crowd at Wembley that day numbered “over 87,000.”
Those who tuned in online or watched in person were treated to an action-packed goal fest. YouTube Allstars defeated Sidemen FC in a 5-4 penalty shootout after the match ended in a 9-9 draw. YouTube Allstars goalkeeper Kylie “Sketch” Cox was named Player of the Match after a decisive save in the shootout, sharing post-match trophy-lifting duties with team captain Darren “iShowSpeed” Watkins.
The match raised over 4.73 million British pounds (equivalent to roughly $6.1 million in U.S. dollars) for several British charities, nearly doubling the previous Sidemen Charity Match record of 2.4 million raised in 2023.
All seven of the Sidemen—JJ “KSI” Olatunji, Simon “Miniminter” Minter, Joshua “Zerkaa” Bradley, Tobit “TBJZL” Brown, Ethan “Behzinga” Payne, Vikram “Vikkstar123” Barn and Harry “Wroetoshaw” Lewis—were joined by fellow YouTube influencers Logan Paul, Mark Rober, Joe Weller and Félix “xQc” Lengyel in their starting XI.
In addition to Cox and Watkins, the YouTube Allstars featured fellow influencers Niko Omilana, Theo Baker, Kai Cenat, Christopher “ChrisMD” Dixon, Amin “Chunkz” Mohamed, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, Morgan “Angryginge13” Burtwistle, Max Fosh and Roberto “Fanum” Pena.
Several other internet personalities contributed pitch-side player interviews and live commentary not unlike an English Premier League or UEFA Champions League broadcast, including a pregame studio show featuring retired British soccer stars Jermain Defoe, Eni Aluko and Emile Heskey providing analysis. But there were also plenty of lighthearted moments that could never take place outside of a charity match, such as Fosh pulling out a mini-shredder and shredding a yellow card he had just been given, Paul suplexing a teammate in celebration after a goal, and Olatunji performing one of his rap songs at halftime.
Many of the influencers who were on the pitch Saturday boast millions of subscribers on their various YouTube channels. Donaldson’s MrBeast channel is the most-subscribed in YouTube history with 371 million subscribers.
According to the donation website, 43 percent of the funds raised will go to Bright Side, the charitable arm of the Sidemen which doles out grants to youth and sports-focused nonprofits, while 50 percent will go to BBC Children in Need and the remaining 7 percent will go to Minter’s charity M7 Education, which funds and organizes educational trips for British schoolchildren.
Media reports at the time indicated that the last Sidemen Charity Match in 2023, which sold out West Ham United’s London Stadium with over 60,000 fans in attendance, peaked at over 2.5 million concurrent viewers on YouTube. It was not immediately clear whether the concurrent viewership on Saturday’s stream eclipsed that tally. YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for information from Front Office Sports.
Lines Between YouTubers and Sports Continue to Blur
For most of the YouTube stars on the pitch at Wembley, Saturday’s match was just the latest among several forays into sports in recent years—and that’s even aside from those such as Baker, whose YouTube content is primarily about soccer (and who scored a hat trick on Saturday).
Watkins, aka “iShowSpeed,” has been a constant presence on soccer shows following a viral appearance on Sky Sports in 2022. He’s an extremely vocal fan of Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo, and he dedicated his performance in Saturday’s charity match to Ronaldo. Watkins was banned from Sky Sports shortly after his 2022 appearance following the unearthing of past misogynistic and derogatory comments he made while streaming himself playing video games.
However, he’s since made similar media appearances recently, including during Fox Sports’ coverage of the 2024 Euros last summer as well as on CBS Sports’ Champions League coverage earlier this week to promote his involvement in Saturday’s match. The latter appearance reportedly came at the invitation of French soccer legend and CBS analyst Thierry Henry.
Cox has also had several crossovers with sports, from athletes copying his viral “What’s Up Brother” catchphrase to a direct involvement in the 2024 NFL Draft. Cox, a Houston Texans fan, announced the team’s fourth-round selection last April.
Donaldson has been involved in the NBA—his snack brand Feastables was the Charlotte Hornets’ jersey ad sponsor during the 2023-24 season, and he hosted a three-point contest between a fan and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard during the 2025 NBA All-Star Game last month. Cenat recently had a viral exchange with Stephen A. Smith as a guest on ESPN’s “First Take.”
Paul and KSI, meanwhile, have competed in several high-profile exhibition boxing matches, including against each other in 2019. Paul faced off against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2021 while his brother Logan Paul fought against Mike Tyson in a heavily publicized bout last November.
