EE launches ‘the Wembley Cup’: an exclusive online series starring football-loving YouTube talent #WembleyCup
- New 10-part web series launches on Saturday 18th July as part of EE’s ongoing partnership with Wembley Stadium
- Led by popular YouTube star Spencer FC, 28 of the biggest football-obsessed online personalities come together to fulfil their dream of playing on Wembley Stadium’s iconic pitch
- Series documents Spencer’s journey as he builds a team strong enough to take on fellow YouTube star MiniMinter and his Sidemen crew at the final – to be screened on August 8th
- England star Andros Townsend makes a guest appearance in the series and joins Spencer FC for a console game on Wembley Stadium’s giant scoreboard for the launch
EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, announces the launch of exclusive online series, The Wembley Cup. Created in partnership with popular YouTube star Spencer FC, the 10-part series documents Spencer’s journey as he brings 28 of the biggest football-obsessed online personalities together to fulfil their dream of playing on Wembley Stadium’s iconic pitch for the grand final.
The Wembley Cup web series launches on Saturday 18th July and can be viewed on EE’s own website, ee.co.uk/wembleycup, and on Spencer FC’s YouTube channel, which has nearly 700k subscribers. The first nine episodes will focus on Spencer’s ‘road to Wembley’ journey as he builds a team of fellow YouTube stars to take on rival web personality Miniminter (2.5m subscribers) and his Sidemen United team – composed of other football-loving YouTube personalities – in an epic Wembley showdown.
Each episode will show Spencer giving his fellow YouTubers a new challenge to help select his starting 11 as they prepare to battle with Miniminter’s team. The series combines both the digital and physical worlds of football, including a session with professional coaches at the FA’s National Football Centre at St George’s Park, a challenging game of ‘footgolf’ – a play on the traditional sport where a football is used instead of a golf ball – and of course, some mental training playing football-based console games.
England star Andros Townsend showed his support for the series with a surprise guest appearance and joins a host of other talent who appear alongside the YouTubers including Matt Le Tissier, Martin Keown, Ray Wilkins and women’s under 23’s England star Melissa Lawley. Townsend appears in one episode to take the YouTubers on at a football video game but at a place he’s very familiar with, Wembley Stadium. To launch the series Townsend also challenged Spencer FC to a special game played out across the huge Wembley scoreboards.
Andros Townsend said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time at Wembley when playing for England, but to play a console game of football on the giant screens was a new experience altogether. Slightly less pressure of course, but Spencer and the guys certainly put me through my paces. I’m a big fan of what these guys are doing on YouTube and looking forward to watching the Wembley Cup series as it unfolds to see who came out on top.”
Three new episodes will be released each week in lead up to the grand final played on Wembley Stadium’s hallowed turf and released online on Saturday 8th August. Further content will be distributed on EE’s own social channels and shared across all of the competing players own online channels. Those following the series will be encouraged to show their support online by using #WembleyCup.
Spencer McHugh, Director of Brand at EE, said: “We are always looking at exciting new ways to bring our Wembley partnership to life, and a collaboration with these phenomenally popular YouTube stars – who between them have over 25m subscribers and 3.5billion video views – seemed like the perfect opportunity to entertain their football-loving audience. An online series on this scale, involving 28 YouTubers and a host of sporting celebrities, has never been done before. We hope those tuning in will enjoy the completely unique content we’ve created with this ambitious project.”
Since EE’s partnership with Wembley Stadium kicked off last year, EE has introduced many technological advancements to the stadium including delivering a significant network upgrade to more than double 3G and 4G capacity, ensuring fans can stay connected during events, as well as working with the Wembley team to deliver the first official Wembley app and roll out mobile and contactless payment facilities.
For more information about EE’s partnership with Wembley Stadium please visit EE.co.uk/Wembley.
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Suggested caption:
England star Andros Townsend joins Spencer FC for a console game of football on Wembley Stadium’s big screen to launch The Wembley Cup – a new online series from EE which launches on Saturday July 18th, ee.co.uk/WembleyCup
For more information, please contact M&C Saatchi PR:
M&C Saatchi PR – eewembley@mcsaatchi.com / 020 7544 3600
For further information on EE, please visit www.ee.co.uk
About EE
EE is the largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers, businesses, government and the wholesale market. EE has approximately 14,000 employees and 548 retail stores, and serves more than 30 million customers across its mobile, fixed and wholesale businesses.
EE runs the UK's biggest and fastest mobile network, pioneering the UK's first superfast 4G mobile service in October 2012 and is the first European operator to surpass the 10million 4G customer landmark. EE's 4G coverage today reaches more than 90% of the UK population. EE’s 2G coverage reaches 99% of the population while 3G reaches 98%. EE's superfast fibre broadband service covers 74% of the UK population, and ADSL broadband service covers 98.7% of the population.
In the last few years, EE has received extensive independent recognition including being ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®; Best Network at the 2014 and 2015 Mobile News Awards; Fastest Network at the 2013 and 2014 uSwitch Awards; Best Network at the 2014 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards and the What Mobile Awards 2013 and 2014; Number One for Network Innovation at the 2013 Recombu Awards; Best Mobile Network at the 2014 Recombu Awards; Best Network for Business at the 2013 and 2014 Mobile Industry Awards; and Best Consumer Network at the 2014 Mobile Industry Awards
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About Wembley Stadium Connected by EE:
Wembley Stadium connected by EE is the home of the England national football team. Since its creation in 1923, Wembley has hosted some of the most famous sporting and music entertainment events, including England’s World Cup success in 1966, Live Aid in 1985, Take That’s record-breaking Progress Tour in 2011 and the blockbuster boxing match between Carl Froch and George Groves in 2014.
The original stadium was demolished in 2000 and the new, 90,000-seat stadium was opened in 2007. Thanks to its partnership with EE, it is also one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in the world. Visitors can also use the official Wembley connected by EE app to further enhance their visitor experience. The app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play and includes the following features; the latest event calendar including how to buy tickets, check out the view from your seat, plan your journey from sofa to seat, the Wembley social wall, Wembley Radio and Arch Cam, plus more great features.
Wembley Stadium has evolved and now hosts no fewer than 15 different event owners with an incredible 29 events scheduled for 2015. The NFL will host three International Series matches in 2015 which complement the other existing partnerships with the Football League, RFL, Saracens Rugby Club and a number of music promoters, including SJM, Metropolis and Live Nation.
In 2012 the stadium hosted nine matches during the Olympic Games and was the proud host of the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, making it a total of seven European Cup Finals, more than any other venue in Europe.
Wembley Stadium has a rich and proud sporting and music heritage spanning 91-years and 2015 is no different, with acts including The Capital Summertime Ball, AC/DC and Ed Sheeran and two Rugby World Cup fixtures.
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