Darts star Luke Littler has been banned from playing in the annual Sidemen Charity Match after YouTube icon KSI stepped in. The showdown, which features content creators and influencers, will take place on April 18 at a sold-out Wembley Stadium. The 2025 edition of the game saw all seven members of the Sidemen battle it out on the pitch against a YouTube Allstars team, made up of AngryGinge, IShowSpeed, Logan Paul, Mr Beast, and many others.
Yet it looks like two-time darts world champion Littler will not be lining up for either side this year. In early February, the 19-year-old reposted an Instagram post by the Sidemen, who had announced to their 6.2million followers that tickets for the annual match had sold out within hours.
Tagging the group in the post, Littler wrote: “Get me in the team Sidemen.” However, any designs the lifelong Manchester Unitedfan had of turning out at Wembley were brutally crushed by KSI, who is one of the founders of the group.
During an appearance on Capital FM in March, the 32-year-old was asked if he had responded to Littler’s request. The Britain’s Got Talent judge simply replied: “I have not responded and he’s not in.”
However, the part-time boxer clarified that his point-blank refusal was down to a golden rule the Sidemen have always applied to the game. KSI said: “It sounds so bad, but we only have content creators on the Sidemen Charity Match.
“So we haven’t ever had a celebrity come on to play. That’s more for like Soccer Aid. You never know, maybe one day we’ll have Soccer Aid versus Sidemen.”
KSI even admitted some of the most famous celebrities on the planet could request to participate and the response would still be a firm no, cementing that Littler’s snub was not personal.
The YouTuber added: “I think for us we’re focusing more on just content creators. That’s how it’s always been, and even if Justin Bieber wanted to play, we’d go, ‘No! Content creators only.'”
This year, the Sidemen are made up of several personalities whose names carry significant gravitas in the online sphere. These include Jack Joseph, who is managing the team, Zerkaa, W2S, Vikkstar123, TBJZ, Deji, ChrisMD, and xQc. The YouTube side wil be managed by Calfreezy and feature stars such as Sketch, AngryGinge, KSI, Max Fosh, Mrwhosetheboss NYKchazza, Danny Aarons and more.
The Sidemen Charity Match is set to take place at Wembley on Saturday, April 18, with kick-off set for 3pm. It will generate funds for charities Bright Side and M7 Education – the latter being established by Sidemen member Simon ‘Miniminter’ Minter and his brother Nick.
