---
title: "Rebel FC"
description: "A feature-length documentary about the Wembley Cup, made with Calfreezy for Rebel FC, the YouTube-native football club he founded. Tom ran its social and content across the 2018 to 2019 season, the season Rebel FC knocked Hashtag United out of the EE Wembley Cup and played the final at Wembley Stadium."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/rebel-fc/
updated: 2026-10-25
---

# Rebel FC

> A feature-length documentary about the Wembley Cup, made with Calfreezy for Rebel FC, the YouTube-native football club he founded. Tom ran its social and content across the 2018 to 2019 season, the season Rebel FC knocked Hashtag United out of the EE Wembley Cup and played the final at Wembley Stadium.

## At a glance

- Client: Rebel FC, Calfreezy
- Tom's role: Social Media Manager (freelance), Rebel FC, Sep 2018 to Aug 2019. Formats, upload schedule, channels and community. Run alongside his employed role at Virtual Umbrella.
- Years: 2018 to 2019
- Platforms: YouTube

## In short

- Tom worked on the feature-length documentary about the Wembley Cup, The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP, made with Calfreezy.
- Rebel FC was founded by Calfreezy, who launched it in June 2017 as a YouTube-native football club. [vault: Rebel FC]
- Tom ran its social and content as a freelancer from September 2018 to August 2019. [vault: Rebel FC]
- The Rebel FC channel holds 46 videos and 2,683,829 views in Tom's record. [site data: channels Rebel FC]
- That season Rebel FC beat Hashtag United 1-0 in the semi-final of the EE Wembley Cup and lost the final 1-0 to F2 FC. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- The club told its side in a 1 hour 6 minute documentary, The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP, released 20 December 2018. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]

## The starting point

Calfreezy launched Rebel FC in June 2017, and someone else held the content role before Tom took it over. [vault: Rebel FC]
The team played real fixtures against amateur and semi-professional sides and documented the season on YouTube. [vault: Rebel FC]
It sat in the UK football creator scene alongside Spencer FC's Hashtag United. [vault: Rebel FC]
Its early videos went out on Calfreezy's own channel, including the first game with Rio Ferdinand on 5 May 2017. [site data: library ocfShCfXGRg]
Those 2017 Calfreezy uploads are treated as before Tom's time and keeps them out of his credits. [vault: Rebel FC, open questions]

## What Tom did

Tom ran social and content across a full season: formats, upload schedule, channels and community. [vault: Rebel FC]
He delivered content around the Wembley Cup and featuring Rio Ferdinand, Callux, Arsenal Fan TV and the Spurs Foundation. [vault: Rebel FC]
The role was freelance and ran alongside his employed job at Virtual Umbrella. [vault: Two jobs, three clients, one year]
The videos are filed in his record under Format and strategy, and Marketing and distribution. [vault: The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP (Full Length Documentary)]
The role was missing from his CV until he audited his own record. [vault: The chapter I left off my own CV]

## How it was made

**The format.** Real fixtures filmed as match videos, with titles built on the drama of the game. [site data: library, Rebel FC]
Examples: FIGHT BREAKS OUT VS SE DONS!, INSANE HAT TRICK! REBEL FC VS THAMES IRONWORKS, CRAZY LAST MINUTE WINNER! REBEL FC VS CLAPTON FC. [site data: library]

**Between the matches.** Challenge and squad formats filled the weeks: trials, penalty taker eliminations, crossbar challenges, bench cams and creator crossovers with Callux. [site data: library, Rebel FC]

**The Wembley Cup.** The 2018 EE Wembley Cup put four creator teams at Wembley: F2 FC, Rebel FC, Hashtag United and XO. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
Robert Pirès, David Trezeguet, Cafu and Michael Essien played as legends. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
The channel built a run of uploads around it: WEMBLEY CUP STARTS NOW on 26 October 2018, BIG WEMBLEY CUP ANNOUNCEMENT! on 22 November and the Arsenal Fan TV test match on 23 November. [site data: library]

**The documentary.** The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP runs 1:06:33 across 25 chapters, from pre-match strategy to the championship. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]
Its description thanks Under Armour "for making this possible" and names 15 Rebel FC players, among them Jesse, Reev, Casey and Rory. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]
It covers training with Hashtag United, a training visit to Southampton and a row over Calfreezy adding a player late. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]
The commentary on the day calls the semi-final win "unbelievable scenes here at Wembley". [vault: process/The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP (Full Length Documentary)]
YouTube's most replayed markers sit at the walk into the Wembley Cup match day, around 46:00, and near the final, around 59:00. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]

## The results

- 46 videos and 2,683,829 views on the Rebel FC channel. [site data: channels Rebel FC]
- 41 of Tom's record's Rebel FC videos fall inside Tom's dates, September 2018 to August 2019, with 2,419,546 views. [site data: library]
- 56 Rebel FC videos in Tom's record overall, May 2017 to July 2019, with 12,065,007 views. 10 of those are on Calfreezy's channel and predate Tom. [site data: library]
- Semi-final: Rebel FC 1-0 Hashtag United, ending the three-time winners' run. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- Final: F2 FC 1-0 Rebel FC, a Trezeguet volley. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- Rebel FC's Jesse Waller-Lassen was Man of the Match across both games. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- More than 230,000 watched live on Spencer FC's channel and the final passed one million views, per EE. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- The documentary has 99,216 views in Tom's record and 99,644 on YouTube on 25 October 2026, with 2,430 likes and 201 comments. [web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY]

## What it proves

A full season of content is a format problem as much as a filming one. [vault: Rebel FC]
The channel mixed fixtures with repeatable challenge formats so the upload schedule held between matches. [site data: library, Rebel FC]
It is also Tom's case for auditing your own record: a full season, missing from his CV. [vault: The chapter I left off my own CV]
And it is where the Calfreezy relationship began, which later produced New Waves, Who Dis? work. [vault: Rebel FC, open questions]
See [New Waves, Who Dis?](/case-studies/new-waves-who-dis/).

## Coverage and links

- EE Newsroom, 26 November 2018: F2 FC triumph at the fourth annual EE Wembley Cup final. Names Rebel FC as Calfreezy's team. [web: https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/]
- The Evening Standard and Wikipedia (EE Wembley Cup) also cover the 2018 result. Seen in search results only, not opened, so not linked.
- None of the coverage found names Tom.

## The numbers

- 2,683,829: views across the 46 videos on the Rebel FC channel (Tom supplied)
- 56: Rebel FC videos in Tom's record, 12,065,007 views (Verified)
- 1-0: Rebel FC's semi-final win over three-time winners Hashtag United at the 2018 EE Wembley Cup (Verified)
- 1,000,000+: views of the 2018 Wembley Cup final, per EE, with more than 230,000 watching live (Verified)
- 1:06:33: runtime of The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP, Rebel FC's full length documentary (Verified)
- 556,850: views on the channel's most watched video, FIGHT BREAKS OUT VS SE DONS! (Verified)

## Key videos

- [The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP (Full Length Documentary)](https://tomsharman.com/videos/R2fRWXk02fY/index.md): 99,216 views, 20 December 2018. Rebel FC's own side of the 2018 EE Wembley Cup, from training to the final. 99,644 views on YouTube on 25 Oct 2026.
- [FIGHT BREAKS OUT VS SE DONS! (BIGGEST YOUTUBE RIVALRY)](https://tomsharman.com/videos/ko8tjtIlBCE/index.md): 556,850 views, 9 September 2018. The most watched video on the Rebel FC channel, and the first month of Tom's season.
- [UNDERCOVER PRO PLAYER! REBEL FC VS MADNESS FC](https://tomsharman.com/videos/hLjR6gMTJfo/index.md): 254,844 views, 4 January 2019. Second on the channel. A format hook layered on a real fixture.
- [WEMBLEY CUP STARTS NOW VS GREENWICH BOROUGH](https://tomsharman.com/videos/LZuH1xHP3RQ/index.md): 86,958 views, 26 October 2018. The start of the Wembley Cup run on the channel.
- [REBEL FC VS ARSENAL FAN TV (WEMBLEY CUP TEST)](https://tomsharman.com/videos/ZYwOlTir0p8/index.md): 81,579 views, 23 November 2018. The warm up fixture before Wembley, with Arsenal Fan TV.
- [CALLUX TAKES ON REBEL FC CHALLENGE (REBEL vs THE WORLD)](https://tomsharman.com/videos/2OZ7qhPK4gc/index.md): 76,511 views, 26 September 2018. A creator crossover challenge, one of the non match formats on the channel.

## Links

### Videos

- [YouTube: The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP (Full Length Documentary)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRWXk02fY)
- [YouTube: FIGHT BREAKS OUT VS SE DONS! (BIGGEST YOUTUBE RIVALRY)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko8tjtIlBCE)

### Press

- [EE Newsroom: F2 FC triumph at the fourth annual EE Wembley Cup final](https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/f2-fc-triumph-at-the-fourth-annual-ee-wembley-cup-final/)

### Channels

- [Rebel FC on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@RebelFC)


## Read next

- https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/clash-of-creators/
- https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/new-waves-who-dis/
- https://tomsharman.com/videos/R2fRWXk02fY/
- https://tomsharman.com/videos/?creator=Rebel%20FC