Three Soccer Aid 2025 stars will join a charity match to support families of Southport knife attack

Three players from this year’s Soccer Aid will be pulling on their boots again to play in a charity match supporting families affected by the Southport knife attack.

This City Is Ours actor James Nelson-Joyce, boxer Tony Bellew and former Lioness Toni Duggan have all signed up to appear at the fundraising game on August 3 organised by Southport FC.

They’ll be joined by Liverpool singer and footballer Chelcee Grimes, who’s played in three previous Soccer Aid clashes, and YouTuber and TikToker Ryan Hall, aka StillRyan.

On the touchline, Reds legend John Aldridge will be manager for one of the teams, with the other boss and more celebrity signings – including ex-Liverpool and Everton players, YouTubers and singers – still to be announced. 

The match, which will take place at Southport FC’s Haig Avenue ground with a 3pm kick-off, has been organised by the club’s new owners, Liverpool property developers Kieran Malone and his business partner David Cunningham.

They took over the Sandgrounders and saved the club from the threat of closure earlier this year. 

Since then they’ve set about rebuilding it, bringing in new manager Neil Danns, who will be playing in the charity game, and some exciting young players to create a new-look squad for the 2025/26 season.

The pair were also keen to reinforce Southport FC’s role in the community, including supporting local good causes.

Kieran explains:

“The club was about to be lost when we took it on so when we bought it three months ago we wanted to make sure we worked with the community. 

“We already do a lot for charity through various sponsored events but we thought in Southport there’s no better charity than one helping families directly affected by the tragic events of 29th July last year.

“We worked with the Round Table, who are in contact with the families because they’ve raised a lot of money already, and then started getting in touch with people we knew to ask if they’d like to play.”

Kieran says when they found out where the money raised would be going, James, Tony and Toni didn’t hesitate to say yes.

“It’s such a worthwhile charity so when you give people the opportunity to support it, they’re in straight away. Even people who can’t be there on the day, like England women’s football star Jill Scott and former referee Mark Clattenburg, are going to send us signed things for our auction and raffle because they really want to help raise as much money as we can.”

Both teams will have men and women, like Soccer Aid, and Kieran says he hopes to create a smaller-scale version of the event which has raised more than £100million for UNICEF UK since it launched almost 20 years ago.

“Where Soccer Aid is massive, it’s international, this is for our community in Southport,” he adds. “We want our charity match to be like a local Soccer Aid for a local charity.”

Southport FC is still looking for sponsors for the match and donations from businesses for its auction and raffle. Anyone interested in supporting can contact: andy.burgess@southportfc.net.

Book tickets for the match on the Southport FC website.

Find all the latest Southport news here.

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