Read the full case study: 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.
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
Key numbers
- 56: Rebel FC videos in Tom's record, 12,065,007 views
- 1-0: Rebel FC's semi-final win over three-time winners Hashtag United at the 2018 EE Wembley Cup
- 1,000,000+: views of the 2018 Wembley Cup final, per EE, with more than 230,000 watching live
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.
- Tom ran its social and content as a freelancer from September 2018 to August 2019.
- 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.
- The club told its side in a 1 hour 6 minute documentary, The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP, released 20 December 2018.
The starting point
Calfreezy launched Rebel FC in June 2017, and someone else held the content role before Tom took it over. The team played real fixtures against amateur and semi-professional sides and documented the season on YouTube. It sat in the UK football creator scene alongside Spencer FC's Hashtag United. Its early videos went out on Calfreezy's own channel, including the first game with Rio Ferdinand on 5 May 2017. Those 2017 Calfreezy uploads are treated as before Tom's time and keeps them out of his credits.
What Tom did
Tom ran social and content across a full season: formats, upload schedule, channels and community. He delivered content around the Wembley Cup and featuring Rio Ferdinand, Callux, Arsenal Fan TV and the Spurs Foundation. The role was freelance and ran alongside his employed job at Virtual Umbrella. The videos are filed in his record under Format and strategy, and Marketing and distribution. The role was missing from his CV until he audited his own record.
How it was made
The format. Real fixtures filmed as match videos, with titles built on the drama of the game. Examples: FIGHT BREAKS OUT VS SE DONS!, INSANE HAT TRICK! REBEL FC VS THAMES IRONWORKS, CRAZY LAST MINUTE WINNER! REBEL FC VS CLAPTON FC.
Between the matches. Challenge and squad formats filled the weeks: trials, penalty taker eliminations, crossbar challenges, bench cams and creator crossovers with Callux.
The Wembley Cup. The 2018 EE Wembley Cup put four creator teams at Wembley: F2 FC, Rebel FC, Hashtag United and XO. Robert Pirès, David Trezeguet, Cafu and Michael Essien played as legends. 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.
The documentary. The TRUTH about WEMBLEY CUP runs 1:06:33 across 25 chapters, from pre-match strategy to the championship. Its description thanks Under Armour "for making this possible" and names 15 Rebel FC players, among them Jesse, Reev, Casey and Rory. It covers training with Hashtag United, a training visit to Southampton and a row over Calfreezy adding a player late. The commentary on the day calls the semi-final win "unbelievable scenes here at Wembley". 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.
The results
- 41 of Tom's record's Rebel FC videos fall inside Tom's dates, September 2018 to August 2019, with 2,419,546 views.
- 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.
- Semi-final: Rebel FC 1-0 Hashtag United, ending the three-time winners' run.
- Final: F2 FC 1-0 Rebel FC, a Trezeguet volley.
- Rebel FC's Jesse Waller-Lassen was Man of the Match across both games.
- More than 230,000 watched live on Spencer FC's channel and the final passed one million views, per EE.
- 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.
More case studies: tomsharman.com/case-studies