ENGLAND may be taking on Ukraine today, but the biggest football match will be between two teams you have probably never heard of.
The Sidemen versus The YouTube Allstars will take place in front of a sold-out 62,000 crowd at West Ham’s London Stadium at 3pm — and will be watched by millions online.
While anyone over 40 may struggle to recognise the players, to social media-savvy youngsters, they are the Tom Cruises, Brad Pitts and Will Smiths of their world.
Online, the Sidemen are a group of top YouTube celebrities, including British phenomenon KSI, who is also known for his boxing bouts with YouTuber Logan Paul.
With more than a billion social media followers among both sets of players, the charity match — which has been running annually since 2016 — is expected to pull in a global audience of more than 20million.
Last year, the game, held at Charlton Athletic’s ground, raised £1million.
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The match has since been streamed more than 34million times.
Tickets for this year’s game, which cost from £8 upwards, sold out in less than 90 minutes and proceeds will go to charities Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Teenage Cancer Trust and Rays Of Sunshine.
PR and brands expert Ed Hopkins says: “I’ve been closely watching the incredible journey of Sidemen’s charity game, and it’s nothing short of a masterclass in how to capture the hearts and minds of young people while creating a formidable brand in the world of sports.
“It’s not far-fetched to imagine Sidemen’s charity game gracing the hallowed grounds of Wembley Stadium in the future.”
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Here, we take a closer look at some of the stars aiming to give professional footballers a run for their money.
THE SIDEMEN
VIKKSTAR 123
7.61million subscribers
VIKRAM Singh Barn, 28, is one of the most dedicated social media personalities in the world.
When he first started out, he posted gaming videos every day for four years straight.
It led to him gaining a combined 3.8billion views and more than 7.6million subscribers on YouTube.
His hard work has also earned him a reported £8million fortune.
Recently, he has been giving fans a glimpse into his dream home along with his side-hustle as a DJ.
In April 2021, he proposed to girlfriend Ellie Harlow, 26, in front of Dubai’s gleaming Burj Al Arab hotel.
KSI
40.4million subscribers
UNDOUBTEDLY the biggest name on the pitch will be YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI, who has firmly established himself as one of the world’s hottest internet personalities.
He started out as a gamer with a focus on Fifa, but now posts everything from reaction videos to a look at a day in his life.
The Sidemen FC skipper is also a rapper and co-founder of the Prime Hydration drink alongside American YouTuber Logan Paul.
Real named Olajide Olayinka Williams, the 30-year-old also co-founded XIX Vodka and owns a restaurant chain called Sides.
KSI, who has kept tight-lipped about who he is dating, has a reported net worth of £21million.
W2S
16.3million subscribers
HARRY LEWIS, known as Wroetoshaw (or W2S), is such a football fanatic that he has his own football challenge club,
KickTown in London, where competitors take on ball-based skills exercises.
Across his various YouTube channels and social media platforms, the 26-year-old has amassed 16.3million subscribers.
He typically posts about gaming and real-life football content and is able to pull in tens of millions of views per video.
He is also known for his real-life challenges with his family and friends, and has a reported net worth of more than £4million.
ZERKAA
4.69million subscribers
AT 31, the oldest of the Sidemen began his career by posting Call Of Duty gaming videos, which he later expanded to cover football content.
Since then, Zerkaa, whose real name is Joshua Bradley, has built up 4.69million followers on YouTube.
Last year, he celebrated ten years of game play.
He also has a podcast called Homegrown and is estimated to be worth £3million.
Since 2010, he has been dating Freya Nightingale, 30, who has been dubbed the “merch Queen” due to her regularly wearing Sidemen clothing.
MINIMINTER
10.2million subscribers
HE was man of the match at last year’s game, and having just turned 31, he will be looking to cap off his birthday week with an even bigger impact this year.
Born Simon Minter, he says he narrowly missed out on being a professional footballer when a clash in fixtures meant he was unable to meet a scout.
He is another star who started as a Fifa gamer on YouTube, but nowadays he showcases more of his personal life.
According to reports, he’s the second-richest member of Sidemen and has a net worth of £9million.
Earlier this year, he married singer Talia Mar in a lavish Italian ceremony.
YOUTUBE ALLSTARS
ISHOWSPEED
20.2million subscribers
IF you ever doubt the pull of YouTubers, just look at the huge crowd who chased a car carrying US sensation IShowSpeed this week in Edinburgh.
The 18-year-old – real named Darren Watkins – is a Cristiano Ronaldo superfan, worth a reported £9.6million.
He is one of the biggest streamers in the world and mainly live-streams himself playing games such as Fifa and Minecraft.
He began dating girlfriend Ermony Renee after meeting her in an ice cream shop in 2021.
At last year’s charity football match, he was given the yellow card after whipping the referee with his T-shirt.
XQC
2.32million subscribers
THE 27-year-old Canadian is a former professional player of first-person shooter Overwatch who now mostly posts reaction videos.
Real name Felix Lengyel, xQc is one of the most controversial streamers and has faced several bans for showing explicit content.
It doesn’t appear to have hurt his fanbase too much, however.
He was named the most-watched streamer on platform Twitch for three consecutive years from 2020.
He will play in goal today, but team-mate IShowSpeed has called him a “skinny pip” and fears he will cost them the game.
NIKO OMILANA
7.15million subscribers
HE may be best known for his parody videos and daring pranks on YouTube, but it was no laughing matter when Niko decided to run for Mayor of London in 2021.
After managing to rack up 50,000 votes and coming fifth with a campaign based on telling Boris Johnson to “shush”, the 25-year-old returned to his day job after the election.
On YouTube, he has 7.15million subscribers as well as 2.3million followers on Instagram.
In 2018, one of his pranks saw him sneak into the ring during fellow YouTuber KSI’s first boxing match against American Logan Paul in Manchester.
DANNY AARONS
1.49million subscribers
ENGLISHMAN Danny has been rising up the ranks of YouTube with his videos of Fifa gameplay.
His tips and advice have earned him many fans, but there was controversy on Boxing Day last year when he was banned from the game’s Transfer Market feature for allegedly breaking its rules – something that he denied.
On his channel, which he launched in 2012 with Minecraft videos, he has more than 1.49million subscribers and hosts 1,200 videos.
The 21-year-old also has a large following across Instagram, gaining around 80,000 views per video.
MRBEAST
181million subscribers
WHEN it comes to YouTube, MrBeast is miles ahead of everyone else in the game with a whopping 181million subscribers and 47billion combined views.
He is also a big hit on Instagram, where he has 40.8million followers.
Worth a massive £88.2million, the American, real name Jimmy Donaldson, is also one of the most charitable content creators and showcases himself on YouTube gifting fans everything from a private island to hundreds of cars.
The 25-year-old Kansas native gave a fan $1million in one video and walked around his city giving out $1,000 to a series of homeless people.
Thanks to MrBeast’s lucrative brand endorsement deals, he is able to host several such giveaways without his personal fortune taking a significant hit.
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He is known for pioneering the genre of videos based on expensive stunts and challenges.
And he has been in a relationship with South African YouTuber Thea Booysen, 25, since late last year.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
