Soccer Aid 2026 will kick off at 6:30pm BST on Sunday, May 31, at West Ham's London Stadium, giving fans a fixed date, time and venue for one of football's biggest charity nights. ITV 1 will show the match live, with coverage starting at 5pm BST, and viewers can stream it free on ITVX.
The announcement matters because the annual Unicef fundraiser has become a fixture on the football calendar, and the 2026 match will be the 15th edition since it began in 2006. More than £120m has been raised across the series, including over £15m from last year's match at Old Trafford, a total that shows why the exact soccer aid kick off time matters to so many viewers and donors.
Wayne Rooney is among the named England players for the game, alongside Jermain Defoe, Jill Scott, Jack Wilshere, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Paddy McGuinness and Theo Walcott. Rooney's inclusion gives England a familiar face for a match that has leaned heavily on nostalgia and star power from the start.
But the World XI will arrive as the defending side after winning last year at Old Trafford, where Carlos Tevez scored four goals and helped push the overall series to 8-6 in the World XI's favour. That result is the reminder behind the headline details: England has work to do if it wants to cut into a lead that has built up over years of these summer exhibitions.
The next confirmed step is straightforward. Soccer Aid 2026 takes place on Sunday, May 31, at London Stadium, and the countdown now runs to a 6:30pm BST kick-off that will decide whether England can answer the World XI or watch the gap widen again.
