This past Sunday saw not only the closing night of Parklife and Outbreak Festival here in Greater Manchester, but also Soccer Aid 2025, which raised yet another incredible amount for charity.
It was also one of the highest-scoring games Old Trafford has seen in a while.
This year’s edition of the fundraising match for UNICEF, which has now been running for more than two decades, saw a record-breaking 14th win for the World XI, who have also emerged as champions from the last five Soccer Aid games.
Nevertheless, with more than £15 million raised in charitable donations to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which helps protect children’s rights, provide humanitarian and all-around support to kids across the world in developing countries, that was the real victory.
As you can see, the exact amount generated following donations during this year’s Soccer Aid fixture is £15,280,163, essentially matching the record-breaking figure raised in 2024.
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Better still, this now takes the total raised for UNICEF thanks to the charity match, which became annual back in 2018, to beyond £115m. Incredible stuff.
Top performers on the night included Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney, who got the goals underway, ex-Man City Women’s star Toni Duggan and retired England striker Jermain Defo, who managed to score a brace on the night.
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However, despite taking a two-goal lead, it was the World XI’s star man who happened to be both a once-friendly face at the Theatre of Dreams and a familiar foe.
Speaking on the staggering 2025 total, pop star Robbie Williams, who founded the event back in 2006, said: “As an original founder of Soccer Aid, I couldn’t be more proud of UNICEF…
“From the volunteers, organisers and talent, to the team on the ground; everyone who buys a ticket or makes a donation. Together, over the years, we’ve raised over £121m. Here’s to many more games and even more fundraising.”
Well done to everyone involved with another fantastic year for Soccer Aid and UNICEF, including local comedian Paddy McGuinness, who celebrated a record ninth appearance playing between the sticks for England. Big likey, big lighty.
You can watch the game back in full HERE or all the big highlights from Soccer Aid 2025 down below.
Cracking scoreline that. Man United vs Lyon, eat your heart out.
Both Manchester United and Manchester City named as teams with the least amount of local fans
Emily Sergeant
Both Manchester United and Manchester City have been identified as being teams with the least amount of local fans, according to a new survey.
We all know that supporting a local team can be seen as a mark of credibility among a certain kind of football fan, while on the flip side of that, not following a local team is often associated with being a ‘glory hunter’. But which Premier League clubs have the highest – and lowest – proportion of supporters living close to home?
Well, YouGov decided to use its profiles data to analyse the fanbases of all 20 Premier League clubs for the 2026-27 season to get the answer to this once and for all.
And it’s fair to say that it’s not looking the best for the Manchester teams.
The study found that, overall, Brighton & Hove Albion is the Premier League’s most local team – with 56% of fans based in the South East.
Sunderland (50%) and Nottingham Forest (49%) supporters are the next-most likely to live in the same region as their teams, followed by Aston Villa, Brentford, Ipswich, Leeds, Fulham, Hull, and Crystal Palace fans rounding out the top 10.
At the other end of the table, Manchester United has the second-lowest proportion of local supporters, with only a quarter based in the North West (23%), with one in six (17%) actually living in London instead.
And then as for Manchester City – who are widely considered to be the most successful team of the modern era – it has ranked fourth-bottom for local fans, as a quarter of the club’s supporters are based in the North West, with a fifth based in London (19%).
But although both United and City have found themselves towards the bottom end of the ranking, they are not the worst offenders.
That title, unfortunately, does belong to another North West team though – Liverpool.
Liverpool is the club with the lowest proportion of ‘local’ supporters, as just a fifth are based in the North West (21%) with the next highest concentration of fans can being found in London.
Featured Image – Johnny Gios (via Unsplash)
Sport
Manchester Storm game postponed just one week after AO Arena return due to ‘technical issue with the ice’
Daisy Jackson
Manchester Storm’s second game back at the AO Arena had to be postponed over the weekend due to a ‘technical issue with the ice’.
The ice hockey team made a record-breaking return to the venue earlier this month, attracting some 11,000 fans to watch their match against Sheffield Steelers.
But just one week later, as Manchester Storm prepared to face off against The Nottingham Panthers, the game had to be postponed.
Fans were already inside the legendary venue when a ‘technical issue with the ice’ became apparent and the game was called off.
Manchester Storm and the AO Arena said they ‘sincerely apologise’ to supporters and ticket holders for the disruption.
The game has now been rescheduled to Wednesday 14 October, with tickets valid for the new fixture.
The full statement read: “Unfortunately today’s Manchester Storm game vs The Nottingham Panthers has been suspended due to a technical issue with the ice.
“We sincerely apologise to supporters and ticket holders for the disruption and would like to thank everyone in attendance for their patience.
Danny Jones -
16th June 2025 
