ITV has apologised for giving the wrong total of money raised by Soccer Aid.
In a statement on Twitter, the broadcaster explained that due to an ‘administrative error within ITV’ the total raised was not £11.5 million as previously announced, but £9.3 million.
It added that it is still the largest total in Soccer Aid history.
The statement read: ‘Last Sunday’s Soccer Aid event was watched by millions on ITV whose donations contributed to a record fundraising total which will help Unicef provide a better start in life for young people in need across the world.
‘Regrettably, due to an administrative error within ITV, the total figure raised of £11.5m announced on air by ITV at the end of Sunday night’s Soccer Aid for Unicef was incorrect.
‘The total amount of money raised by the end of the show as £9.3m. This is still the largest sum raised in Soccer Aid for Unicef history – beating the £6.7m raised in 2019.’
It added: ‘ITV would like to apologise fully for this error, which should not detract from the commitment made by all those involved, including Unicef, the players, coaching staff, production and all supporting partners, as well as the huge generosity of the public, who we would like to thank again for making the event such a success.
‘As previously planned, all donation platforms will remain open until Tuesday 6th October and ITV will continue to promote the event on air and online to deliver the highest possible final total.’
Celebrities such as Olly Murs, Kem Cetinay, Mo Gilligan and Roman Kemp took part in the charity football match on Sunday.
Team England was beaten by the stars and professionals on team Rest of the World.
The total was announced on air by hosts Dermot O’Leary and Kirsty Gallacher, and the official account tweeted: ‘A record-breaking total raised at tonight’s Soccer Aid,’ the official account posted on Twitter.
‘Your donations will truly make a difference to children around the world [and will be] tripled up to £3 million thanks to UK Aid.’
Taking part for England were celeb players Marvin Humes, Olly Murs, Joe Wicks, Paddy McGuinness, Mark Wright, Alfie Allen, James Bay, John Bishop, Chunkz, Joel Dommett, Liv Cooke, Tom Davis, Danny Jones and Yung Filly.
Facing off against them were the Rest Of The World XI celebrities, which were Kem Cetinay, Mo Gilligan, Iain Stirling, Chelcee Grimes, Roman Kemp, Dermot Kennedy, DJ Locksmith, Jeremy Lynch, Jason Manford, Ore Oduba, Serge Pizzorno, Santan Dave and Billy Wingrove.
The match saw players from both teams take a knee before kick off in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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