Who is Mellstroy as £300k stunt explains Champions League Final pitch invasion

The Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid was stopped in the opening minutes due to a pitch invasion. A social media influencer called Mellstroy reportedly offered his followers a cash prize to run onto the pitch at Wembley Stadium.

A number of people in white t-shirts, which read ‘MELLSTROY’ on the front, stormed the European stage with $350,000 reportedly on offer from the internet star for the first person to get onto the Wembley turf. Mellstroy broadcasts on a streaming platform called Kick, where he has 470,700 followers.

The 25-year-old also has three million followers on Instagram and 1.8 million followers on TikTok. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, in 1998, and began streaming in 2015, playing Minecraft, CS:GO, Dota 2, and other popular games on YouTube.

Mellstroy, whose real name is Andrey Burim, eventually decided to start streaming his day-to-day activities and betting on Kick. It is unclear whether the reports of a $350,000 prize are genuine.

However, the presence of multiple pitch invaders bearing the streamer’s name on their clothing so soon after kick-off would suggest an element of premeditation on the pitch invaders’ part. After a short break in play, the stage was cleared and the Champions League final resumed.

Ahead of game, Rio Ferdinand explained why he’d love to see Jadon Sancho waltz away victorious. Speaking to the Daily Mail, the former Manchester United defender said: “I don’t really care about Dortmund, I don’t care who wins this, really, if I’m honest.

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“But for someone like Jadon, it’d be great for young people to see people that can go through a little bit of downturn in confidence. Have to change environment, club, etc, be vilified at times, be on the receiving end of bit criticism, but then come out the other end and produce some performances.

Ferdinand added: “Get to a place where actually, I can be successful over here now. And it just shows that if you’ve got that resilience and that character and that support, then anything is possible. But listen, he’s playing against Real Madrid. It will be very difficult.”