Longest football match record attempt fails in Leicester

The score when they realised they could not achieve the record attempt was 148 goals to 126

Players who were aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the longest football game have admitted defeat after four people were injured.

The match began on Monday morning and they were aiming to play for 109 hours, finishing on Friday, to break the record of 108 hours with 36 players.

However after 24 hours, injuries meant they could not keep the required amount of players on the pitch overnight.

The challenge in Leicester was to raise money for the Rohingya crisis.

More than 700,000 Rohingya people have fled the destruction of their homes and persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) since August 2017.

To break the record there needs to be a minimum of eight players on each team on the pitch at all times

The score on Tuesday morning, when they realised they couldn't achieve the record attempt, was 148 goals to 126.

Sarfraz Hussain, organiser of the event at West Gate School, said at least 16 players needed to be on the pitch at all times and during the night half of the 36 players would sleep while the others played.

But with four injuries, it meant there were only 16 players per shift during the night, with no leeway for more injuries.

Mr Hussain said: "It had come to a point where if one player got injured, the game would be completely void."

He added: "The players gave it their all. They really did soldier as hard as they could. It is one of those things."

However, even though the record is no longer achievable, the players who are fit enough are continuing to play during the day and they are asking the community to join them.

Mr Hussain said the atmosphere was "still joyful and vibrant".

People are still donating, despite the record attempt being void

The One Nation challenge has so far raised £30,000 for the Rohingya crisis.

Mr Hussain added: "People are still donating, which is humbling."