Goals from Les Ferdinand and Jonathan Wilkes put England into a two-goal lead but a handball inside the area from David Gray resulted in a penalty, converted by Diego Maradona.
Their victory over a squad of ex-England internationals from the 1960s to 1990s on Tuesday morning was tempered with defeats to the Rest of the World in a penalty shootout and football quiz.
Celebrities Legends The Rest of the World squad was managed by Ruud Gullit, with Gus Poyet as his assistant.
Captain Gordon Ramsay injured his leg in the early training sessions and was considered doubtful for the match.
Desailly, Matthäus, Schmeichel and Ginola all arrived with only 2 or 3 days to spare before the match; Ginola arrived during half time of their warm-up defeat to the Scotland Legends on Wednesday afternoon, and Diego Maradona only joined the squad on the day before the match.
It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV and presented by Ant & Dec. Before kick-off Jonathan Ansell sang the footballing anthem "Nessun Dorma", whilst the players were introduced to Sir Geoff Hurst.
Celebrities Legends The Rest of the World squad was coached by Kenny Dalglish, with Ian Rush as player-assistant manager.
Match commentators were Sam Matterface and Graham Taylor, and Sol Campbell was a studio guest.
[11] The main match was hosted by Dermot O'Leary and Kirsty Gallacher, with commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Chris Kamara.
[11] The main match was hosted by Dermot O'Leary and Kirsty Gallacher, with commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Robbie Savage.
[16] The main match is hosted by Dermot O'Leary and Kirsty Gallacher, with commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Graeme Le Saux.
Alan Sexton played in the England team as the first and only non-celebrity or legend player at Soccer Aid.
[21] Note: Yaya Touré was dropped from the event after sending inappropriate messages in a squad WhatsApp group.
England lifted the trophy for the first time since 2018, after a 6–3 win against the World XI, breaking the previous highest scoring record from 2008 of seven.