TWO CELEBRITIES are representing East Lancashire at Soccer Aid 2022, which takes place this weekend.

Comedian Lee Mack and actor Lucien Laviscount will be taking to the pitch on Sunday, June 12, but will be playing on opposing teams.

Lucien, from Read, is on the England team while Blackburn’s Lee Mack will be playing for the World XI team.

Speaking to his one million Instagram followers, Lucien, the star of Netflix show Emily in Paris said: “Come on England! So excited to make my Soccer Aid debut on Sunday alongside so many great people.”

Veteran Soccer Aid player, Lee, is returning to the annual fixture as part of the World XI team, having previously played in the charity football match on several occasions.

Speaking ahead of the star-studded match, Lee said he was looking forward to returning after he remembered that, despite being England’s all-time record goalscorer, Way Rooney, 36, did not score in last year’s Soccer Aid but he did.

Lee said: “There was the temptation to say the last kick I ever did in Soccer Aid was a goal, so leave it at that.

“And then I thought about it and I watched a documentary on Amazon with Wayne Rooney and I was reminded of the fact that he’s England’s top goalscorer, and he’s Man United’s top goalscorer, and he played in Soccer Aid last year and he didn’t score and I did, and I didn’t even make school team!

“And I thought how can I give up that, I’ll have to do that again, that’s brilliant.”

 

 

Having scored a goal for the first time in the final minutes of last year’s match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, Mack joked: “I have deliberately missed the penalty for comedic effect for three consecutive years.

“Now that is commitment, not many people tell a joke that lasts three years. I’m happy to commit.

“Miss, miss, miss, then score, that was the plan. And I thought, well I’ll miss for the first three years and then the punchline is that I score.

“I wrote that joke four years ago and I had to act it out and it worked a treat.”

The Not Going Out writer also shared how he has been preparing for the match, which will take place at the London Olympic Stadium.

He said: “One of the things I love about Soccer Aid is it makes me get fit.

“So every year I’m pulled up to it, I get on the treadmill and do my running and every year my knees get worse and so I’ve just started back again.” 

The match between England and Soccer Aid world XI will feature a variety of famous faces including debuts from Alex Brooker and Arsene Wenger.

Martin Compston, Mo Gilligan, Harry Redknapp, Gary Neville, Fara Williams and Chunkz will also make their return to the pitch for 2022.

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne will captain England, while the fastest man of all time Usain Bolt captains the Soccer Aid World XI team.

Since its creation in 2006, Soccer Aid has raised more than £60 million for Unicef, which helps to provide aid to children worldwide.

Soccer Aid 2022 will take place at The London Stadium on June 12, screened on ITV from 6.30pm.