One of the biggest livestreaming events was held on April 18, with millions of fans tuning in to catch the action. The Sidemen Charity Match 2026, the most prominent football match hosted by streamers this year, saw two teams of star creators face off, attracting 2.2 million viewers and a series record for goals scored.
However, the biggest talking point to come out of the Sidemen Charity Match 2026 was the amount collected for the Brightside and M7 Education charities. A whopping £6,218,875 was raised by the team, with new stars also emerging in a game that was celebrating a decade of this exhibition match taking place.
What happened at the Sidemen Charity Match 2026?
This year, 90,000 fans packed into the iconic Wembley Stadium in London, with demand for the match resulting in tickets selling out in a record-setting two and a half hours. An end-to-end game that was as chaotic as we are used to over the past few years saw Sidemen FC draw with YouTube Allstars 10:10. The 20 combined goals were a series record for the number of goals scored during a game.
The YouTube Allstars eventually came out as 4:1 winners in the penalty shootout, with the Sidemen only scoring one of their four penalties.
Fans were also treated to a half-time performance by English rapper and singer Tinie Tempah. Moreover, at the end of the game, Simon "Miniminter" Minter was given the Adidas Golden Boot trophy for scoring the most goals in the game. He also holds the record for scoring the most goals across this series.
Unlike previous iterations, this time, the Sidemen group was split among the two teams, with many of the group's members put into the YouTube Allstars' team to even up the contest. Jack Joseph took charge of the Sidemen FC team, while Callum "Calfreezy" Aire was the manager of YouTube Allstars.
As mentioned above, the match was able to help raise over £6.2 million for two charities, with the collections at half-time almost matching the entire amount raised last year (£4.7 million ). What helped was the live merch auction running simultaneously for viewers, as those participating could secure exclusive signed Sidemen memorabilia from the match, with all proceeds going to Brightside Charity.
How many viewers watched the Sidemen Charity Match 2026?
This year's game reached 2.26 million Peak Viewers (PV), more or less maintaining the series' audience reach over the past few years. It did not match the record set in 2022, but did maintain the Sidemen Charity Match series run of peaking at over 2 million concurrent viewers since 2022.
Among the most popular channels to cover the action were Mark "ohnepixel" Zimmermann, Ibai "ibai" Llanos and Marc "caedrel" Lamont. Each has a different demographic of audiences, helping take the match to more corners of the world, with ohnepixel's presence a surprise as he usually sticks to content related to video gaming and esports.
Show and exhibition football matches featuring influencers have become more and more popular over the years. The Sidemen Charity Match series has been a trailblazer in this regard, and this year, it proved once again that it is one of the biggest events across livestreaming every year. With the bar set high, it remains to be seen how many other football or sporting events can match its numbers through the rest of 2026.
