Wayne Rooney's testimonial match to be first ever game streamed live on Facebook
Wayne Rooney's testimonial match on Wednesday is set to make history as the first ever game between Premier League teams to be live streamed on Facebook. Manchester United face off against Everton tonight and the match is set to be available to a whopping 1.7 billion people worldwide via Wayne Rooney and Manchester United’s Facebook pages.
The money raised through the football match will be distributed to Rooney's chosen charities including the Wayne Rooney Foundation. The other charities involved are the NSPCC, Claire House Hospice, Alder Hey Childrens Hospital and the Manchester United Foundation.
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Rooney has provided 12 years of loyal service to the Manchester club. Having arrived from Goodison Park as a teenager for 30 million pounds, Rooney has been one of United’s best players ever, scoring 245 goals in 520 appearances in all competitions. Apart 10 major titles including 5 Premier Leagues and a Champions League, Rooney also has several individual accolades to his name. He has won the PFA Young Player of the Year twice, PFA fans’ Player of the Year twice and PFA Players’ Player of the Year once.
In an official pre-match interview, a happy Rooney said, “I'm excited - I think it'll be a good game but also a good pre-season game, which we need going into the new season. I'm grateful to the club for granting me this testimonial and hopefully, we'll raise a lot of money for charity. I think before the game and at the end I might get a bit emotional, but come kick-off it'll be a normal game and it'll act as good preparation for me and the other players, as we'll get more minutes under our belts going into the new campaign."
United fans are expected to get their first look at new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly. The game will also be Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge at Old Trafford.
Coverage of the match begins at 7:15 PM British Standard Time (BST) and the match kicks off at 8 PM (BST).