Soccer Aid is one of world’s biggest football charity events. Every year, major names from all over the world come together, and go head to head, to raise money for Unicef. This year’s event raised more than £15.6m for the charity.
The squad lists are often as unlikely as they are impressive. This year’s England team had former One Direction singer Liam Payne lining up alongside multiple Olympic champion Mo Farah and former England footballers Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville.
And the World XI team, coached by Arsène Wenger and Idris Elba, teamed up world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, with American TikToker Noah Beck and Detective Inspector Steve Arnott. The lineup also had a name familiar to strongman fans …
Two-time World’s Strongest Man, Tom Stoltman, swapped his lifting gloves for goalie gloves for this year’s match, filling the position of celebrity goalkeeper for the World XI side.
It’s not even been three weeks since he sealed his second consecutive WSM title, and here he was teammate to the likes of Cafu and Andriy Shevchenko, two of football’s greatest ever players, and Patrice Evra.
And what a performance he put in, too. Finishing 2-2 in normal time, the game was decided by a penalty shootout. Tom saved a crucial penalty from comedian Russell Howard, becoming the first celebrity keeper to save a penalty at Soccer Aid. The World XI went on to win the shootout 4-1, with Lee Mack scoring the winning spot kick.
Take home message
From World’s Strongest Man to World’s Greatest Goalkeeper. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but Tom Stoltman is clearly multitalented. If only Scotland had qualified for the World Cup…
