The next day fundraising total for this year’s annual Soccer Aid fundraiser for Unicef is £1m down on last year.

Organisers have announced that Sunday night’s charity match, which involved ex-professional footballers and celebrities, raised £14.6m.

However, this is down on last year’s tally of £15.6m, which was a record for the event.

Thanks to your incredible support we have raised a whopping £14,619,005!

Thank you so much 💙#SoccerAid || @UNICEF_uk pic.twitter.com/Y0w7QZlJnb

— Soccer Aid (@socceraid) June 11, 2023

Last year’s fundraising match took place at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium and saw a World XI team beat an England XI 4-2. This is the five time in a row the World XI team has won.

The World XI team, included athlete Usain Bolt, comedian Lee Mack and former footballers such as Hernan Crespo and Robbie Keane, who scored a brace.

Meanwhile Sir Mo Farrar and former professionals Paul Scholes and Gary Neville represented England.

All they do is win 🤷 @AspreyLondon 💙 pic.twitter.com/dpprAgsSCp

— Soccer Aid (@socceraid) June 11, 2023

Partners for the event, which was created by former Take That member Robbie Williams in 2006, included Primark and WeShop.

Other celebrities taking part this year included the singer Tom Grennan, who was named man of the match for a second year in a row and also performed during half time for the show, which was broadcast by ITV and hosted by Alex Scott and Dermot O’Leary.

Fundraising in decline

Since the pandemic the average amount given by those donating a year has more than halved, falling from £261 in 2018/19 to £101 in 2022, according to research published by the Centre of Economics and Business earlier this year.

Meanwhile, in April the number of people donating to charities fell to an almost two-year low, found online fundraising platform Enthuse’s Donor Pulse report.

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