A WORLD Record football match attempt will be held in memory of two budding footballers killed in the Shoreham air crash.

Two teams of 11 players with seven rolling substitutes were already set to play night and day on a full-sized pitch in memory of Worthing football fan Matt Chaplain.

The 38-year-old died of a cardiac arrest in April 2013.

Now the event has been widened to remember not only Mr Chaplain but also 23year-olds Matt Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, who were both killed when a Hawker Hunter jet crashed on to the A27 last August during the Shoreham Airshow.

The game, planned for May, will be staged at Lancing College - close to the tragic crash site that claimed 11 lives.

Organisers hope to break the world record for the longest continuous football match, which currently stands at four and a half days.

Proceeds raised by the game, which will be sponsored by Equiniti, will be donated to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and to providing a permanent memorial to all three men.

The world record attempt teams will play on a full-sized pitch, with two standard match squads of 18 players (11 playing with seven substitutes).

All the players have to eat and sleep next to the pitch for the duration of the game, meaning tents, gazebos and Portaloos will take pride of place alongside the technical area.

Steve Taylor, chairman of Worthing United, said: "Some of the younger players have played with Matt [Grimstone] and Jacob, and Matt [Chaplain] was well-known locally on the football scene. It's nice for the players - they want to give something back."

He said Worthing United was approached last September because of its ties with the crash victims, adding: "They asked us and we are happy to help."

Mike Standing, manager at sponsor Equiniti and project manager of the event, said: “The BHF fights against heart and circulatory disease, and we want to raise awareness that it is still the nation’s biggest single killer.

"We also want to remember those who lost their lives in the Shoreham disaster.

"We sometimes forget how quickly and suddenly life can be taken away. We want to give back to the local community as well as contribute towards an extremely worthy charity.”

Mr Standing and his friends have been planning the record attempt for some years, and initially Mr Chaplain was going to take part.

His untimely death two years ago from heart complications led his friends to decide to go ahead with the attempt in his memory.