Jonathan Wilkes and Robbie Williams came up with Soccer Aid 20 years ago, starting a charity match that has since raised money for UNICEF and become a fixture on the football calendar. Wilkes, who played six times for England in the event before his last appearance in 2017, helped create the match that is now being revisited in a new ITV1 documentary.
The answer to who founded Soccer Aid is now clear enough to settle the search: Wilkes and Williams co-founded Soccer Aid for UNICEF in 2006. Wilkes has said the idea began with something the pair had by a swimming pool in Los Angeles, though he has never spelled out which of them first pushed it over the line.
That origin matters because Soccer Aid did not begin as a polished charity brand or a stadium-ready television event. It started with two friends who had known each other for years and turned an idea into a match that would send its proceeds to the United Nations Children's Fund. Wilkes has said of Williams, “It does not matter if we have not spoken for months and months, we just go back to the old routine.” He has also described him as his best mate since childhood, saying their mothers were close and they grew up together doing amateur dramatics.
Wilkes’s own route to the pitch also gives the story its edge. He signed for Port Vale FC when he was seven and later played for Everton FC as a teenager before moving into presenting, acting and singing. He then returned to football through Soccer Aid, playing in one of the first matches in 2006 and going on to represent England six times overall.
But the game did not last forever for him. His last Soccer Aid appearance came in 2017, when a recurring hamstring injury forced him off the pitch. Even then, he stayed involved behind the scenes, helping keep the event moving after his playing days were over.
The timing gives the story its second life. Soccer Aid is marking its 20th year, and the documentary More Than Just a Game is set to air on ITV1, putting its founding story back in the spotlight. For anyone still wondering who founded Soccer Aid, the answer is Wilkes and Williams — and the bigger question is how a conversation by a pool in Los Angeles grew into a charity match that has lasted two decades.
