@Jonny_Wilkes

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20m

19 years on ,it still blows my mind what we have created !!

@socceraid

@socceraid

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23m

Robbie's here! 👑

Edited June 15Jun 15 by Sydney11

Great match - and when Big Zuu scored the winning goal 😅

I really enjoyed it and over £15m raised so far.

Robbie -brilliant as always ❤️

'Soccer Aid gets bigger and better, and one change this year needs to stay'

ITV's charity fundraiser continues to grow in stature and across the schedules.

Ian Hyland

·Columnist

Mon 16 June 2025 at 11:35 am GMT+1·5-min read

England goalkeeper Paddy McGuinness during Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2025 at Old Trafford. (PA)

Over on ITV1 last night Dermot O’Leary was at Old Trafford in Manchester, giving us an update on the state of play.

"It’s a Sunday night in June when the football season is over," Dermot explained. "What else are we gonna do?" Well Dermot, for any fans looking for a bonus football fix the options were fairly clear.

We could fall in with FIFA’s latest money-making scheme and watch the likes of mighty Bayern Munich stick ten goals past a bunch of postmen from New Zealand in the World Club Cup.

Or we could tune into Soccer Aid, ITV and UNICEF’s very own annual money-making scheme, where you could see a bunch of celebrities and YouTubers being put in their place by seasoned ex-pros, and enjoy the "no reachy, no savey" spectacle of Take Me Out’s Paddy McGuinness trying to stop a trickler from TV chef Big Zuu sneaking in at his near post.

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For me it was always going to be the latter. It’s a much more satisfying viewing experience. Plus, it’s all for a good cause. By the way, is it just me or does Soccer Aid seem to be growing bigger every year?

This year it was all across the ITV schedules, from piddling afternoon quizzes such as Ridiculous to prime time monsters such as The 1% Club. It was almost as if ITV had sensed a gap in the market following the recent fall off in interest in the BBC’s Children In Need and assorted Relief efforts, and decided to have a shot at gaining some charity ground.

Soccer Aid even had its own sporty documentary this year: the tale of Sam Thompso

to deliver the match ball in time for the big match’s kick-off.

I’m not necessarily against such rampant expansion. Obviously, we must throw in the usual caveats. Can charities really be trusted with our money? And why should we donate our hard-earned cash when the millionaire celebrities and multimillionaire footballers asking us to do so could achieve similar results with their loose change?

The simple truth is Soccer Aid usually offers us laughter and entertainment — and quite a few of the themed programmes were good fun too. Special mention to The 1% Club and to Alex Brooker on Deal Or No Deal.

On the night itself, I knew I’d made the right choice when at 6.20pm on a Sunday evening, ITV took the rather brave decision to give Tyson Fury full control of the microphone to deliver a motivational speech to the England team.

One "We’re England! We’re f***ing Spartans!" and several profuse apologies later, I think we could all agree we had just been reminded of the joys of live TV. It didn’t stop there either. Just before half-time, with England 2-0 up against the World XI and coasting, ITV decided it would probably be fine to go to Fury again.

England coach Tyson Fury (right) with Sam Thompson (centre) with World XI's Tony Bellew ahead of Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2025 at Old Trafford. (PA)

Of course, you couldn’t help but feel moved by the genuine fear and anguish in Alex Scott’s face and voice as she said "Once again, I do apologise for Tyson’s swearing." There was a little bit of "serves you right" in there from us as well though.

The funniest thing about it all was that in the rush to apologise for Fury's behaviour, no one appeared to notice that Harry Redknapp has dropped an F-bomb of his own. The match itself was entertaining enough on its own. After a quiet first half, it burst into life in the second 45 minutes thanks mainly to the introduction of Carlos Tevez and Leonardo Bonucci. If we were being kind, we might say the pair are only recently retired from the professional game and that perhaps explains why they took the match so seriously. If we were being honest, we’d say book a couple of legendary s***housers and you’ll get what you pay for.

Carlos Tevez during Soccer Aid 2025 at Old Trafford. (Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Tevez in particular was a revelation. Not only did he score four goals to give the World XI the edge, he also incurred a yellow card for a blatant foul on fellow ex-pro Aaron Lennon, almost had a scrap with YouTuber Angry Ginge (grown-up name Morgan), and played the crowd like a panto villain throughout.

As for Italian enforcer Bonucci, I guess his tackle on England’s Steph Houghton finally offered an answer to a question I first posed after the 2018 match: "How come there are no women playing in Soccer Aid?"

In Bonucci’s defence, he did get the ball and, thanks to Houghton’s awkward landing, the tackle actually looked a lot worse than it was. Of course, ITV will still need to consider the ramifications of that incident ahead of next year’s match. At the end of the day, it’s meant to be a bit of fun.

Steph Houghton was brought down by Leonardo Bonucci during Soccer Aid 2025 at Old Trafford. (Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Speaking of next year, I’m fully expecting co-commentator Jason Manford’s loan move to be made permanent. I’m not sure why Iain "What’s forty quid?" Stirling decided to take a break this year, but Manford is clearly a better fit for this job. It was like listening to someone you might sit next to at a real match.

Manford also made me believe that with the right partner in the commentary box Sam Matterface could also one day be reasonably bearable on ITV’s proper matches.

Unfortunately, Manford almost let the side down near the end of the match when he said something smutty that, to be fair, was probably going through a lot of people’s dirty minds at the time.

Talking about mobile phones, Matterface said to the viewers, "I know you’ve got it in your hand and you’re playing with it now."

"You mean the phone?", Manford said. "Just checking."

Jason, mate. Some open goals are best left well alone.

Soccer Aid streams on ITVX.

'Soccer Aid gets bigger and better, and one change this year needs to stay'

I really enjoyed the match last night -the first half because England were winning 3-0 😅 and the second half because it was a delight to watch Carlos Tevez run rings around Paddy McGuiness and then the look of joy on Big Zuu's face when he scored the winning goal for ROW. 😆

I think it's the first year I can recall there not being an interview with RW beforehand but he got plenty of air time once the match got going and looked gorgeous to boot ❤️

Amazing amount raised too and sold out stadium. A good night

20 years next year -I wonder if they will do something extra special?

7 hours ago, Laura130262 said:

I really enjoyed the match last night -the first half because England were winning 3-0 😅 and the second half because it was a delight to watch Carlos Tevez run rings around Paddy McGuiness and then the look of joy on Big Zuu's face when he scored the winning goal for ROW. 😆

I think it's the first year I can recall there not being an interview with RW beforehand but he got plenty of air time once the match got going and looked gorgeous to boot ❤️

Amazing amount raised too and sold out stadium. A good night

Tevez was just hilarious , ran circles around people , not bad for a 41 year old 😊. Normally I could watch the match online via a streaming platform but ITV is no longer available so had to put up with You Tube which was dreadful tbh, it just showed the actual match itself, showed very little of what was happening on the sidelines etc so I was like an 👹. Anyway I did enjoy the match itself, Nicky Byrne did his best & made some great saves, Robbie tried to get the crowd to sing Oasis songs. Huge money was raised again for Unicef which are a great organisation so well done to Jonny & Robbie .

I noticed their names were credited at the end of the tv show .

Oasis World

@oasisworld_

·

5h

LIAM GALLAGHER PRAISES ROBBIE WILLIAMS FUNDRAISING When asked if he'd ever play in Soccer Aid, he replied "Far too many celebrities for me. That’s my idea of HELL. Great cause, and Robbie is doing a marvelous job." #Oasis #SoccerAid2025

Anyway, waiting for Liam next summer! :)

Great post.

Ah ! Lad's Look at this 😊

Robbie Williams

@robbiewilliams

·

2h

Replying to

@liamgallagher

and

@eycteann

I properly love you mate... You're the best 😎

Edited June 17Jun 17 by Sydney11

17 hours ago, Laura130262 said:

20 years next year -I wonder if they will do something extra special?

Maybe donate themselves 🤷

6 hours ago, 777666jason said:

Maybe donate themselves 🤷

How do you know that they don't already?

37 minutes ago, Laura130262 said:

How do you know that they don't already?

Realistically when these celebrities worth millions are telling us normal folk to donate 40 quid if they were donating equivalent they'd be making more for charity🤷

Edited Wednesday at 00:035 days by 777666jason

Photos courtesy soccer aid • Instagram

Photo courtesy https://x.com/McClure_Fans

Robbie Williams sends wholesome message to Liam Gallagher after Oasis frontman’s Soccer Aid praise

The ‘Live Forever’ singer said that Soccer Aid was a ‘great cause’ but wasn’t keen to get involved

Greg Evans

Wednesday 18 June 2025 11:45 BST

Robbie Williams sent Liam Gallagher a wholesome message after the Oasis frontman praised the pop star’s work as part of the Soccer Aid charity.

Gallagher, who has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with Williams since their heyday in the 1990s, was recently asked by a fan on X/Twitter if he had “ever considered playing at Soccer Aid”.

The “Wonderwall” singer responded by saying that the event itself involved “far too many celebrities for me” and that it was his “idea of hell”.

However, the 52-year-old rock star did say that it was a “great cause” and that “Robbie Balboa [a reference to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies] is doing a marvellous job”.

Williams has been part of the Soccer Aid charity matches since 2006 and has served as part of the England coaching staff since 2014. The event sees an England team of former professionals and celebrities take on Soccer Aid World XI FC.

Following Gallagher’s warm words, Williams surprisingly dipped into the conversation to say: “I properly love you mate... You're the best.”

Robbie Williams tells Liam Gallagher 'I properly love you mate' (X/@liamgallagher) The brief interaction between the pair soon gained the attention of music fans.

“Robbie Williams and Liam Gallagher interacting in the big year of 2025 omg,” said one shocked fan.

A second added: “Ok, this tweet needs to be framed!” A third joked: “Oh, you two.”

Soccer Aid 2025 took place on Sunday (15 June) with the World XI claiming a 5-4 victory over England at Manchester United’s Old Trafford.

YouTuber, presenter and rapper Big Zuu grabbed the winner after former Manchester City and Argentina star Carlos Tevez had scored four goals. Wayne Rooney, Toni Duggan and a brace from Jermaine Defoe had given England a 4-2 lead.

Other notable celebrities involved in the game included The Last of Us actor Bella Ramsey, singer Tom Grennan, Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah, presenter Paddy McGuinness, Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd, boxer Tony Bellew and Irish musician Dermot Kennedy.

In November 2022, Williams reflected on his feud with Oasis and his relationship with Gallagher.

The “Angels” singer told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe: “Ultimately, I’m a huge fan of Oasis and [always] was. I was there and I was part of it, and it was f***ing unbelievable: incredible hedonism, reckless abandon and rock’n’roll, and ‘let’s turn it to 11, 12 and let’s see where this goes’.

It’s part of that competitive nature of me, too,” he continued, before adding, “And also they were gigantic bullies too, to the whole industry, everybody in it – and I didn’t like that.”

When asked to comment on Williams’s interview on X/Twitter, the Oasis star said he’s “never bullied anyone in my life”.

Gallagher wrote: “I agree with him on the vital thing, not on the bully thing. I’ve never bullied anyone in my life. I’m a massive p*** taker for sure and probably gone a little too far sometimes but if I’ve ever hurt anyone’s feelings I apologise.”

One of the most infamous moments in their relationship came at the Brit Awards in 2000, when the former Take That singer – picking up the trophy for Best Video – asked the crowd: “Would anybody like to see me fight Liam? Liam: £100,000 of your money, £100,000 of mine… we’ll get in the ring and have a fight. Now are you gonna do it or p***y out you f***ing wimp?”

Robbie Williams sends wholesome message to Liam Gallagher after Oasis frontman’s Soccer Aid praise | The Independent

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