A sell-out crowd of 72,000 raised more than é500,000 on the turnstiles alone for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which was increased to more than é2m by the live TV audience.
Saturday night's match, which mixed teams of celebrities and ex-professional footballers, pitted an all-England squad against the "Rest of the World", including Diego Maradona and Gianfranco Zola.
Joining England team captain Robbie Williams was Manchester Evening News competition winner Lakeisha Bradbury, eight, from Knutsford, who won the chance to be England's mascot.
She said: "It was really great, Robbie called me cute and gorgeous, but I was so excited I totally forgot to get his autograph."But as world-renowned referee Pierluigi Collina blew the whistle for the kick-off, all thought of charity on the field evaporated, as the "friendly" got under way. Though on paper the Rest of the World team was a sure bet, with World Cup winners Dunga and Marcel Desailly in their ranks, England soon proved that they could dominate with a smooth, passing game.
Powerful
By half time England were 2-0 up after a powerful header in the box from Les Ferdinand and a dream goal from the left wing by TV presenter Jonathan Wilkes, straight past Peter Schmeichel.
It was hard to tell the celebrities from the professionals, but ageing players Gordon Ramsay and Alastair Campbell, both playing for the Rest of the World, were brought off at half time.
The second half was lit up by Zola's audacious chip over keeper Jamie Theakston's head from behind the half way line, which hit the post, and Maradona's easy penalty after a blatant hand-ball in the area from David Gray.
But the football was secondary to the money raised. UNICEF ambassador Robbie and his friend Jonathan Wilkes organised the match to raise money for the charity, which supports children around the world.
Final score: 2-1 to England.
You can also see them in action in our photo gallery, below. Tweet
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I wish I hadn't gone. The atmosphere was rubbish and the standard of football rubbish too. RVN should have played.
Having driven for 6 hours to attend the match, we were tired and somewhat jaded when we arrived in Manchester, but within seconds of arriving at Old Trafford we were rejuvinated. The atmosphere from just walking down Sir Matt Busby Way to the ground was electric. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful to a couple of Southerners who had no idea where they were going. Inside the ground, which is awesome in itself, everyone young and old, were in thrall to the wonderful men who had given their time and energy both to entertain us and prove something to themselves, whilst raising money for such a worthwhile cause. We really hope that this becomes a regular event. As Spurs and West Ham supporters, we were proud to say we'd been to this wonderful ground for this truly wonderful event. Well done Manchester, you have every right to be proud of yourselves. Thank You for an unforgetable experience.
It wold have been worthwhile if they would have played for free!10K for Robbie,100K for Maradonna etc.They are all well off so,apart from greed,what's their problem?I could probably make a list of a million people who would love to play on that pitch and pay for the priviledge if need be.
We had a great time at the Soccer Aid match and the most noticable thing was the lack of police presence. The friendly atmosphere and the shared purpose to have a good time resulted in little need for police patrols. Its a real shame that the same will never apply to normal football games!!!
I thought the whole Soccer Aid concept was brilliant and think Rob etc should be really proud of themselves!!(Feel a bit deflated as watched all the training and then missed the final match - got caught in major traffic on the way to Manchester - gutted (anyway i can get a copy..?)
PS. Rob seems like a nice guy i got briefly intoduced at the hotel they were staying at.