Youtube collective The Sidemen is to expand its annual charity football match this year to stage it at West Ham’s London Stadium.
The event is streamed live on Youtube each year and last year took place at Charlton Athletic’s Valley Stadium, which has a 25,000 capacity.
Last year 170,00 queued online for tickets for the event, which attracted 2.6m concurrent views and more than 18m views in the first 24 hours on Youtube. This has prompted the group to look for a larger venue, with the London Stadium having a 62,000 capacity.
The event raised £1m for good causes in 2022, including Teenage Cancer Trust, mental health charity The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), and children’s charity Rays of Sunshine. All will once again benefit from the event in 2023.
The Sidemen group includes musician and social media star KSI, who last year took on a side of Youtube Allstars, including Youtube stars Mr Beast, Chunkz and Yung Filly. This year’s players have not yet been revealed.
Tickets for the match, which will take place on 9 September, will go on sale in July. It will once again be streamed live.
“This is a major milestone for us,” said Sidemen’s Joshua Bradley, aka Zerkaa.
“When we first set up this event back in 2016, we never thought we’d be playing in a stadium of over 62,000 people. Not only are we able to give back to our loyal fans, but being able to raise further funds for charities that are so close to our hearts give us a lot to be proud and thankful for. We can’t wait to see all of you in September.”
Last year’s Sidemen team won 8-7 and was managed by Mark Goldbridge, presenter on Manchester United fan channel, The United Stand.
Following last year’s event another of the Sidemen, co-founder Ethan Payne, aka Behzinga, was announced as an ambassador for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
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