--- description: The 12 young soccer players whose rescue from a Thai cave captured an international spotlight were welcomed to the U.K. by Manchester United title: Boys Rescued From Thai Cave Attend a Manchester United Match image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86b73696e152718e/69893daebc6cfc0f6d3e74a5/gettyimages-1054637820.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [United Kingdom](/tag/united-kingdom/) ## United Kingdom Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Boys Rescued From Thai Cave Attend a Manchester United Match by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2018 9:34 AM CUT  Thai coach Ekkapol Chantawong (center) and members of the "Wild Boars" football team take their seats in the stand for the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Oct. 28, 2018. Thai coach Ekkapol Chantawong (center) and members of the "Wild Boars" football team take their seats in the stand for the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Oct. 28, 2018.Paul Ellis—AFP/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2018 9:34 AM CUT The 12 young soccer players whose rescue from a Thai cave in July captured an international spotlight attended a Manchester United match and met several of the players this weekend. > [](https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/1056242420252336129) The boys [hugged](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/28/manchester-united-thai-cave-rescue-boys-meet-football-heroes "undefined") United manager José Mourhino and took pictures with soccer stars Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera on Saturday. They also watched a Manchester vs Everton match with directors’ box seats on Sunday, the Guardian reports. Aged between 11 and 17, the Wild Boars were invited to the U.K. after their [miraculous rescue](http://time.com/5332672/thailand-cave-rescue-first-boys-freed/ "undefined") from a cave in northern Thailand where they and their coach were stuck. It took 18 days for an [international team](http://time.com/5331594/thailand-cave-rescue-seal-death-rains/ "undefined") of divers to find and free all members of the youth soccer team after flooding trapped them deep inside the long and complicated Tham Luang cave. After the boys reached safety, Manchester player Kyle Walker tweeted that he wanted to send them shirts: > [](https://twitter.com/kylewalker2/status/1016673287437471745) Since recuperating from their harrowing ordeal, the boys have received invitations from around the world. They appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ show in October and visited Argentina for the Youth Olympic Games. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/"},"headline":"Boys Rescued From Thai Cave Attend a Manchester United Match","datePublished":"2018-10-29T09:34:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:51:54.769Z","description":"The team was invited after their miraculous rescue from a cave in northern Thailand","url":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/","keywords":["United Kingdom","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86b73696e152718e/69893daebc6cfc0f6d3e74a5/gettyimages-1054637820.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86b73696e152718e/69893daebc6cfc0f6d3e74a5/gettyimages-1054637820.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FBL-ENG-PR-MAN UTD-EVERTON","caption":"FBL-ENG-PR-MAN UTD-EVERTON","creditText":"Paul Ellis—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/united-kingdom/","name":"United Kingdom"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/","name":"Boys Rescued From Thai Cave Attend a Manchester United Match"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave","description":"The 18-Day Dangerous Rescue Mission that Saved the 12 Thai Soccer Players and Their Coach Trapped in a Cave","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U8iRaHYe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-13T06:17:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U8iRaHYe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/","duration":"PT3M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5437440/thai-cave-boys-manchester-united/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```