Professional football club, Hashtag United, have requested to be relegated from the Isthmian League Premier Division, the seventh level of English football.
The club, founded by YouTuber Spencer Owen in 2016, has submitted a formal request to move down from Step 3 of the non-league pyramid.
Hashtag are currently 19th in the Isthmian Premier, which is one place above the relegation zone.
“We told the players at the earliest possible opportunity, so they could make decisions about their own futures before the registration deadline,” the club said in a statement.
“We aren’t cutting our budget, and we aren’t releasing anyone that wants to stay. Our aim is to avoid finishing in the bottom four spots and make this purely an administrative move.”
The Isthmian League confirmed that they had received Hashtag’s request.
“The league is not in a position to make a clear statement as to what will happen, but the usual situation where a club resigns during a season is that the club is treated as a relegated club and the club finishing fourth from bottom is reprieved,” a league statement read.
“However, as stated, this decision can only be made by The FA, and we will notify clubs as soon as that decision has been made and communicated to us.”
The Essex-based side began as a social media project, building a large audience through YouTube before entering the non-league system in 2018, having been promoted three times since.
Hashtag first fielded a women’s side, who now play in the third tier of the English pyramid, in 2020.
Their early rise saw them play in charity friendlies at Wembley Stadium and embark on a tour of the United States before a steady eight-year spell in non-league.