Express & Star

Celebrity football match planned to raise crucial funds for childhood cancer charity

Well-known personalities will be taking part in a football match this month to help improve the lives of children with cancer.

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Calum Best is one of the well-known personalities taking part in the charity football match

A number of high-profile names are set to take part in the Sellebrity Soccer charity match at Villa Park on Sunday, May 22, to raise funds for the childhood cancer charity Niamh’s Next Step.

Those set to put their football boots on include Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist and football freestyler, Jeremy Lynch, TOWIE star Dan Osborne and TV personality Calum Best, who is also the son of the Manchester United legend George Best.

Also taking to the field will be former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara, Steps singer Lee Latchford-Evans, ex-Villa player Darren Bent and Love Island contestants Jake Cornish and Brad McClelland.

Actor Nigel Boyle, who played H in Line of Duty, is also in the squad, alongside the SAS Who Dares Wins presenter Ant Middleton and Fast and Furious star Martyn Ford.

Soap stars Jamie Borthwick and Max Bowden, who play Jay Brown and Ben Mitchell in EastEnders, will reunite on the pitch with some of their former colleagues, including Jake Wood, who is best known for playing Max Branning, Dean Gaffney, who portrayed Robbie Jackson and Danny Walters, who played Keanu Taylor.

Founder of Niamh’s Next Step, Chris Curry said: “It is amazing to have the backing from Sellebrity Soccer for the third year in a row.

“We feel honoured to have the support from a star-studded line up of celebrities who are helping us to fund crucial research into childhood cancer in memory of our courageous little girl Niamh. We are hoping people will come together to help us fight childhood cancer.”

Chris and Sam Curry founded Niamh’s Next Step in 2010 after their youngest daughter was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. In 2012, five-year-old Niamh lost her 18-month long battle with cancer.

Since her death, the charity has raised thousands of pounds and increased awareness of neuroblastoma. The charity now also offers support and advice to children and families affected by it.

The event has been organised by Sellebrity Soccer, which was launched in 2012 to help charities raise money by arranging all-star football matches across the UK.

Sellebrity Soccer’s co-founder Kevin Cooper said: “We are thrilled to be hosting another match in memory of Niamh.

“This charity is close to our hearts so we are hoping the community will get behind the match and help us raise money for such a vital cause.”

The game will kick off at 4pm on Sunday, May 22, however doors will be open from 2.30pm.

Standard tickets cost £15 plus a booking fee, while VIP tickets cost £35.

Around 100 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year in the UK, of which only around 30 per cent will survive.

There is currently no government or NHS funding into the research of neuroblastoma in the UK.

To book tickets, visit tickets.avfc.co.uk/en-GB/events/sellebrity%20soccer/2022-5-22_16.00/villa%20park?hallmap.