Soccer Aid presenters Dermot O’Leary and Alex Scott appear to have had their request to watch Arsenal face PSG in the Champions League final in Budapest denied. The Gunners’ appearance in the showpiece fixture looked to have thrown a spanner in the works for the charity game this year.
The annual clash between an England XI and a Rest of the World side is due to take place at West Ham’s London Stadium on Sunday, with the coverage on ITV1 beginning at 5pm ahead of a 6:30pm kick-off.
On Saturday, Arsenal were beaten on penalties by the French giants in the European final after the game ended 1-1 following extra-time. And judging from Scott’s Instagram stories, the former Gunners star ended up watching on from the Emirates Stadium, where the club erected giant screens for those unable to make it to Hungary.
O’Leary and Scott are due to play a key role in the ITV broadcast for Soccer Aid. The duo are well experienced in hosting the show and even had to improvise, and apologise, last year amid an F-bomb controversy involving Tyson Fury and Harry Redknapp, demonstrating their ingenuity on the job.
However, speaking on Radio 5 Live, O’Leary admitted he was trying to engineer a solution so he could take the trip to Budapest and miss rehearsals for Soccer Aid.
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“We are in negotiations at the moment,” he said earlier this month. “It’s not looking good. Ticket is ok. The problem is my contractual obligation to Soccer Aid. The Champions League final is the day before – it’s a huge problem for me.”
O’Leary brings a wealth of live television experience to the job and he claimed he didn’t need to rehearse. He actually suggested that it was “everyone else involved” who needed a run-through.
4View 4 ImagesAlex Scott’s post showed her P.O.V from inside the Emirates for the Champions League(Image: alexscott2)
4View 4 ImagesShe watched on with a beer in hand, but a long way from Budapest(Image: alexscott2)
O’Leary added: “Also I’m doing it with Alex Scott, one of the Arsenal greats. No. Right now, we’re in a perilous state of negotiation, put it that way, which I don’t think we’re going to win.
“It’s just people getting nervous, understandably, about us not getting on said flights and not making it. And also they want to rehearse on Saturday, bearing in mind I’m a producer of Soccer Aid.”
Despite being keen to miss the rehearsals, O’Leary made sure not to play down the event itself. “It’s quite a responsibility to be there. I do take it quite seriously – it’s for charity,” he added.
Rehearsals perhaps can’t help when something dramatically off the cuff occurs anyway, as evident in the 2025 edition of Soccer Aid. Fury and Redknapp turned the air blue with a pair of F-bombs during ITV’s live coverage.
View 4 ImagesScott and O’Leary are back to host Soccer Aid again(Image: ITV)
Redknapp caused a stir by revealing his team, saying: “We are f*****g Spartans,” while Fury followed it up with another strong curse word.
Scott and O’Leary quickly called upon their experience and apologised for any offence caused by the swearing. The ex-Lionesses star quipped: “We do apologise for the swearing. It’s Tyson, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
This year, former England internationals Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Jill Scott, Steph Houghton and Toni Duggan will all be playing, supported by celebrities including Paddy McGuinness, Owen Cooper, Angry Ginge and many more.
Edwin van der Sar, Leonardo Bonucci and Jordi Alba will play alongside the likes of Chris O’Dowd, Maisie Adam and Simon Neil for the World XI.
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