The Sidemen Charity Match is a recurring association footballfriendly match run by the British YouTube group the Sidemen to raise money for various charitable causes. They have been held since 2016, although there was a four-year hiatus between the third and fourth matches. A sixth match has been announced for March 2025, eighteen months after the fifth match. All matches have been livestreamed on the group's YouTube channel. In all matches so far, the group's seven members—KSI, W2S, Miniminter, Zerkaa, Vikkstar123, TBJZL and Behzinga—and various affiliated YouTubers competed as the Sidemen Football Club, while various other YouTubers competed as the YouTube Allstars.
Prior to the first Sidemen Charity Match, five members of the group (all except KSI and Vikkstar123) participated in the first EE Wembley Cup on 8 August 2015 as part of Sidemen United, a team that was established for the match. Sidemen United lost against Spencer FC 5–2. The Wembley Cup would be held annually for three more years without Sidemen United (which effectively dissolved after their only match), although Sidemen members Wroetoshaw, TBJZL and KSI would participate in the 2017 Wembley Cup as part of Tekkers Town, who lost against Hashtag United 6–1.[citation needed]
The first Sidemen Charity Match was held at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, on 3 June 2016, raising over £110,000 for the Saints Foundation.[1][2] Over 600,000 people watched the livestream on YouTube—the most ever for YouTube Gaming at the time—and 15,000 people attended the match;[2] the stadium only permitted the Sidemen to fill the seats to half-capacity.
Three subsequent matches were held at The Valley, London. The second and third matches, in 2017 and 2018, respectively raised £210,000 for the NSPCC and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust,[3][4] and £65,747 for the Young Minds Trust and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust.[5] After a four-year hiatus, the fourth match in 2022 raised over £1,000,000 for CALM, Teenage Cancer Trust, Rays of Sunshine and M7 Education.[6][7][8]
A fifth match was held on 9 September 2023 at London Stadium,[9] the home stadium of Behzinga's supported team West Ham United. Sidemen FC won 8–5 against the YouTube Allstars.[10] Rapper Aitch performed for the match's halftime show.[11] The match raised over £2.4 million for CALM, Teenage Cancer Trust, Rays of Sunshine and M7Education.[10]
On 3 November 2024, the Sidemen's official X (formerly known as Twitter) account posted that the charity match would be returning for a sixth match, with ticket information to be revealed on 10 November.[12] It was later revealed on that date that the next match would be held on 8 March 2025 at Wembley Stadium,[13]the UK's largest stadium. The charities supported for this match will be the BBC's charity Children in Need and the Sidemen's own charity, Bright Side.[13]
65'
Miniminter
ChrisMD
Castro
W2S
Tareq Salameh