IShowSpeed says he will retire and never play football ahead of Match4Hope charity match

The rollout for February 14's Match4Hope has officially started, commencing with a press conference involving players and captains from both football teams, Team KSI X AboFlah and Team IShowSpeed X Chunkz. During the conference, the topic of goal-scoring came about and Speed mentioned that if he did not manage to get himself on the scoreboard, he'd say goodbye to playing football forever.

The discussion, led by British YouTuber and long-time Chunkz associate, Darkest Man, presented questions for the team captains. At one point, Speed spoke about what he would do if he didn't score this time:

"If I don't score this time, Imma have to take my... y'know... retirement."

This statement did not land with the intensity IShowSpeed may have expected and was met almost instantly with KSI's iconic laughter. Darkest Man responded, finding Speed's decision absurd:

"Retirement? Retirement is crazy (Laughs)."

This year's match is scheduled for Friday, February 14, at Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar, with kick-off at 7:00 PM Doha time. Big names from across football including Andrea Pirlo, Iniesta, and Thierry Henry will convene along with YouTubers and other content creators to raise funds for a good cause.

For context, in its inaugural edition in 2024, Match for Hope raised over $8.8 million, supporting more than 70,000 out-of-school children in countries, including Palestine, Sudan, Mali, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Pakistan.

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IShowSpeed jokes about KSI's forehead at the Match4Hope press conference

IShowSpeed and KSI have shared internet banter for quite some time now, stemming from their on-stream interactions and content creation endeavors. Notably, the two work alongside on PRIME Energy, founded by Logan Paul and KSI, with Speed acting as a brand ambassador.

The Match4Hope press conference carried forward this banter and in one instance, Speed pointed out the size of KSI and AboFlah's craniums:

"Both of y'all got big foreheads."

KSI retaliated, claiming that this feature is more of a boon than a bane, allowing for better headers:

"So we can head the ball real nice bro."

The conference wrapped up with boxing-match-style faceoffs. Notably, IShowSpeed did not flinch at AboFlah's attempt at intimidation.

As of this writing, the teams have had a feel for the stadium, and are currently practicing and familiarizing themselves with their fellow mates.

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In other news, Speed suffered an injury after being knocked out at the 2025 Royal Rumble.