With a decisive 8-7 victory over YouTube All-Stars, UK YouTube group Sidemen put an exciting London evening to a close. The game was free to watch on YouTube and delivered all the action that was promised.
The match at Charlton Valley Stadium sold out of tickets in less than a day, thus the anticipation for the occasion was evident even before the game started.
This can be a result of the event’s polished arrangement.
From the management of the teams by Billy Wingrove and Mark Golbridge to the general improvement in the rosters with a celebrity lineup on both sides.
Here’s a look at the numbers behind the game:
2,500,000 – The game reeled in 2.5 Million concurrent viewers at one point.
Despite the presence of titans like Mr Beast and KSI, this enormous figure is quite unexpected given that the peak viewing for the previous match did not surpass 650,000 concurrent viewers.
This was alongside the 27k viewers already present in the sold-out stadium.
1,000,000 – The Sidemen Charity game raised more than £1,00,000 for four charities, namely the Campaign Against Living Miserably (40%), Teenage Cancer Trust (40%), Rays of Sunshine (10%), and M7 Education (10%).
270,000,000 – The combined subscriber count of the players’ main channels was over 270M. If we take secondary channels into consideration, the number goes far far far above that.
Other Noticeable Stats
0.2 – The opening goal of the game was a 40 Yard screamer by celebrity YouTuber Chunkz, which had an xG of just 0.2.
Had this goal been scored in an official game, it would definitely be a contender for goal of the month.
5 – The players celebrated with the “Siu” on 5 different occasions, although Ishowspeed‘s was from a goal that was ruled out for offside. Ronaldo’s influence is everywhere.
3 – Simon Minter, better known as Miniminter, the founder of the M7 Education charity and a member of the Sidemen, scored 3 goals and provided 3 assists. Classic Man of the match performance.
1 – Vikkstar123, an Indian-English YouTuber infamous for his footballing ability, scored 1 goal from open play, which happened to be Sidemen’s opener and stole the show.
39 – Noah Beck, a TikTok star who almost joined the MLS because of how good he plays, had 39 successful passes with a completion rate of 85%. Pulling the strings.
2.1 – Cal The Dragon, the goalkeeper for YouTube All-Stars, had the lowest FotMob rating with 2.1, which makes sense considering he conceded 7 goals. In his defence, he also faced 26 shots.
87 – Simon Minter grabbed the winner late in the 87th Minute to finish the game 8-7, by chipping the goalkeeper from far out.
By raising over 1M GBP for charity and getting over 2.5M viewers, this was one of the most significant footballing events conducted by social media celebrities.
For fans of the game who are deprived of club football in the international break, this was as entertaining as a game can get.
