On Saturday, September 9, 2023, a major football match took place in London between gaming streamers: the Sidemen Charity Match 2023. Also present were Twitch star Félix “xQc” Lengyel and YouTube stars IShowSpeed and MrBeast. Many viewer hours and several million euros were raised, but also some curious scenes.
What a match was that?
- Some of the biggest names in streaming came together over the weekend to play football against and with each other. In Germany, this event is known as the “Eligella” Cup – in the UK, it is the “Sidemen Charity Match.”
- The game ultimately raised about £2.44 million (€2.8 million) for charity (via sidemenfc). The money goes to several charitable initiatives aimed at fighting cancer. At its peak, 2.7 million viewers watched – the game was shown on 78 channels (via streamscharts).
- The match ended 8:5. The team around Mr. Beast (left midfielder): Sidemen FC won. The “YouTube Allstars” with IShowSpeed as right winger and goalkeeper xQc lost the match.
The Death Tackle Catches MrBeast
This is what happened to MrBeast: The famous YouTube mogul MrBeast (25) got acquainted with “IShowSpeed” (18) right at the start of the match.
The young and hot-headed streamer is athletic and passionate about football but really doesn’t have much skill with the ball.
IShowSpeed tackled the dribbling MrBeast so hard that he had knee pain the next day.
IShowSpeed: Lots of Confidence, but Little Skill – Should Give Himself the Maximum Penalty
This is what happened to IShowSpeed: Besides the bloody tackle, IShowSpeed stood out for his high effort and strong athleticism, but he consistently messed up as soon as he had the ball at his feet.
Again and again, he pushed the ball far ahead and sprinted past defenders, only to quickly lose the ball to the next defender. Additionally, IShowSpeed revealed rule weaknesses: during halftime, someone had to explain the offside rules to him.
His “low point” came when the 18-year-old American confidently grabbed the ball for a penalty, missed it miserably, and had to hear a “Siuuu” from his buddy KSI – this is especially bitter for IShowSpeed because he is a passionate fan of Ronaldo.
In the evaluation, IShowSpeed ultimately received a 7.6, one of the highest ratings on his team. KaiCenat (6.3) and JiDion (3.8) performed significantly worse. But the worst off was the biggest Twitch star on the field: xQc.
xQc Has to Go in Goal, Gets Extremely Bad Rating
This is what happened to xQc: The poor Canadian, who is already suspected of having posture problems due to too much reacting and streaming, was put in goal with minimal training, where he conceded 8 goals and looked unfortunate.
He received a disastrous rating of 0.9 from a football site.
However, his fans defended him: It was great that he even participated.
He had only started training 3 days earlier; moreover, the defense was terrible, and he bears no blame for that.
xQc has proudly secured his “Football Grade 0.9” (something like a 6-) as a profile picture on Twitter. Incidentally, the opposing goalkeeper KSI did much better, as he could leverage his athleticism.
Overall, the match was a complete success. The players felt excited after the game.
However, the performance differences between the individual players were already extremely clear. To put it harshly: The streamers who grew up in North America generally looked significantly worse than the English players who have dealt with football since childhood.
In the end, Manny, a 27-year-old YouTuber from the UK, was celebrated as the star of the game. Specialty: FIFA. He scored a hat-trick for MrBeast’s team.
There are also similar events in Germany, where traditionally someone breaks or tears something:
