Sam Thompson is set for an awkward encounter with Louis Tomlinson at Soccer Aid this Sunday – three months after the One Direction singer started dating Sam’s ex Zara McDermott.
The men will be on the same England team for Unicef – the same charity Sam completed a 260-mile five-day long marathon for on Friday.
And while Sam has insisted there are ‘no hard feelings’, the encounter is bound to sting a little.
Sam, 32, and former Love Islander Zara, 28, confirmed they had ended their relationship in January after more than five years together.
Zara moved on pretty quickly with singer Louis, 33, with the smitten couple appearing inseparable since their romance was made public in March.
Sam Thompson and Louis Tomlinson are set for an awkward encounter THIS Sunday at Soccer Aid three months after One Direction star began dating his ex Zara McDermott
Louis, 33, and Zara, 28, made their romance public in March – three months after she split from her Made In Chelsea ex (Pictured in April)
They have enjoyed a loved-up getaway to Costa Rica together after Louis flew his new flame out to the island first-class.
Meanwhile I’m A Celeb winner Sam has moved on with Love Island beauty Samie Eilshi, 25.
After their blossoming romance was confirmed when they shared a steamy kiss in Mayfair last month, speculation of a split grew after Samie was noticeably absent from Sam’s highly-publicised challenge for Soccer Aid last week.
Such rumours have since been squashed however, with their romance reportedly going from strength to strength as they ‘love spending time together on their days off’, a source close to the couple told .
During an episode of their podcast Staying Relevant’s last month, Pete Wicks, 37, teased Sam about the prospect of the potentially awkward encounter between him and Louis.
The TOWIE star asked his co-host: ‘You’re really going through it with the whole f****** body and dieting and training loads. Is that for Soccer Aid?’
Sam laughed and assured he’s ‘loving it’ but ‘no, it’s not’ for the game, to which Pete continued: ‘Are you sure it’s not for Soccer Aid? How are you feeling? You’re playing again. Must be really exciting.’
He added: ‘How do you feel about the line up? Do you think you’ve got a strong team?’
Awkwardly laughing, Sam replied: ‘Got a really strong team’.
Sam and Zara confirmed their split in January after more than five years together (Pictured October 2022)
The Made In Chelsea star has since moved on with Samie Eilishi (Pictured last week), 25, after the couple were snapped sharing a steamy kiss last month
But, not dropping the subject, Pete then asked: ‘Any kind of people in there who you’re looking forward to playing with?’
‘Loads,’ Sam laughed: ‘Tom Grennan. I’m really looking forward to playing alongside Wayne Rooney, Tyson Fury’s the manager. I can’t wait’.
Pete joked: ‘I mean that’s gonna be f****** amazing. Make sure you get him on side though because you may need him in your corner in case you fall out with anyone. Not that you will but just in case there’s any rivalries or anything.
‘You know, you have to train together and it’s a lot, you know when you’re kind of in close quarters with someone like that. All sorts gets brought up. Anyway…’
Sam and Louis will join the likes of Tyson Fury, Jill Scott, Grennan and Paddy McGuinness in the star-studded squad, while Wayne Rooney will step out of retirement as one of the managers.
However, whilst he is assured to be in attendance, Sam’s ability to take part in the match itself is doubtful after he suffered an agonising ankle injury during his journey from London to Manchester on bike and foot last week.
The former I’m A Celeb winner suffered the injury on the marathon’s first day, but managed to power through five further days before reaching the finish line on Friday.
Having raised more than £1.5million for Unicef and battled through a torn calf, the 32-year-old couldn’t hide his emotions after completing his mission as he collapsed to the floor in tears.
Pete Wicks teased Sam Thompson about Soccer Aid ‘rivalries’ during a recent episode of their podcast
In a clip posted to Staying Relevant’s TikTok account on Thursday, Pete asked Sam: ‘You’re really going through it with the whole f****** body and dieting and training loads. Is that for Soccer Aid?’
Pete Wicks hilariously parodied Sam’s ex Zara McDermott’s famous ‘you can!’ moment from Made In Chelsea as he supported him on his mammoth challenge last week
Speaking after the challenge, Sam said: ‘My legs have completely gone but I feel good. I’m so grateful for everyone being here, I didn’t think anyone would turn up.
‘To everyone who has donated, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it a million times, you are so heroic. The money will help so many children, I’m so grateful.’
Sam may now have more time to pursue his romance with Samie, who recently opened up about their relationship for the first time.
Sam first met Samie, who appeared on Love Island in 2023 and returned to the All Stars series this year, through his presenting role on Aftersun.
Samie spoke about the blossoming relationship for the first time during an appearance on the Chloe Mediumship podcast.
The show is hosted by a psychic medium and in the episode, the beauty revealed how she’s previously had negative gut feelings in past relationships.
She explained: ‘I’ve had gut feelings with guys before. I’ve had a couple of relationships where I’ve known it was never it. Like this is gonna come to an end, I’ll have something telling me every day it’s coming to an end, this isn’t for you.
‘You put it to the back of your mind and then you start noticing the chaos increase. It’s like the universe saying I’m gonna blow you both up if you just do not separate. Then I’m like if I only I listened all those months ago when I got that first message.’
Sam couldn’t hide his emotions after he battled through a calf injury last week to complete his mission for Unicef and Soccer Aid
The reality TV star travelled more than 260 miles from London to Manchester over a five day period, raising £1.5million for Unicef in the process
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BREAKING NEWS
Sam Thompson breaks down in tears as he FINALLY completes his gruelling Soccer Aid challenge
Then, host Chloe asked: ‘Obviously, you don’t have to talk about it too much but the guy you’re currently speaking to, do you have that gut feeling? Like do you think it’s gonna be really good?’
Keeping her cards close to her chest, the former Love Islander replied: ‘There’s been no bad stuff at the minute so yeah I suppose it is all positive right now. It’s early days.’
Zara and Louis sparked relationship speculation at the start of this year before going public in March, three months after revealed Zara and ex-boyfriend Sam had parted ways.
Despite his heartache over Zara moving on so quickly, sources close to Sam exclusively told at the time he holds no grudges against Louis over the new romance.
A source close to the star said: ‘Sam has no hard feelings towards Louis, that’s for sure.
‘As far as he’s concerned, Louis is Zara’s new man and he’s just got to accept it.
‘He’s a positive guy and will just move on from this, throwing himself into work and getting stuck into the exciting projects he’s got coming up.
‘Obviously he was sad when their relationship broke up and, like anyone, when your ex moves so quickly it’s tough. And if he was both angry and devastated, that would be understandable.
‘But he’s not sitting around wallowing in self pity, far from it.’
Zara and Sam were together for five years before they split at the end of 2024 shortly after the Made In Chelsea favourite worked in for I’m A Celeb spinoff show Unpacked.
This year’s Soccer Aid for Unicef match airs on the evening of Sunday 15 June on ITV1 and ITVX from Old Trafford, Manchester.