Registration for Schools’ Football Week 2024, now open!

The English Schools’ Football Association is delighted to announce the return of Schools’ Football Week, in partnership with Pro:Direct Sport, from 5^th – 11^th February 2024!

Schools’ Football Week (SFW), in partnership with Pro:Direct Sport, is an ongoing initiative created by the English Schools’ FA (ESFA) and designed as an opportunity for schools, teams and Associations from across the country to embrace schools’ football and the wellbeing benefits it provides to pupils and players. It celebrates the importance of schools’ football, competitive or otherwise, to pupils across England and provides teachers and coaches with tools and a motivation to further discuss the benefits of schools’ football within their educational environment, from the pitch to the classroom.

The 2023 campaign saw a celebration of the growing participation of girls’ football in schools – promoting the importance of equal access to schools’ football for both girls and boys. In this new season, following the continued growth of the girls’ game, the ESFA has seen over the last two years, SFW 2024 will continue in its pursuit to celebrate girls’ and all schools’ football next February.

Schools’ Football Week 2023 saw the campaign reach huge new levels of participation:

• Over 235,000 pupils took part in SFW activity
• Over 1,400 schools registered for events
• Over 108,000 girls benefitted from schools’ football activity during SFW

Don’t miss your opportunity to be part of this fantastic campaign in 2024!

The ESFA and Pro:Direct Sport, will be encouraging schools, Associations, clubs and teams to introduce some football-related activity into their environments throughout SFW from the 5^th – 11^th  February. From football-themed lessons, to inter-house or intra-school tournaments, the campaign is designed to celebrate schools’ football, girls’ football and everything in between, in a way that is inclusive to all pupils and players.  We have created a toolkit full of ideas to support SFW activity and it’s available to download here.

This season, Schools’ Football Week will continue to champion all the activities schools choose to put on, we will also: 

• Be airing our National Schools’ Cup draws for the third year, on the ESFA’s YouTube Channel, ESFA TV on Monday 5 February 
  
• Sharing classroom resources for schools to utilise within lessons
  
• Enter all schools that register activity before the 8^th December into a draw to win £1k worth of football equipment, to help support SFW activities in 2024

The campaign isn’t designed to focus wholly on competitive football, but the wide-ranging benefits that being part of a team can have on school age children in England. For example, SFW aims to bring together opportunities for schools to bring football off the pitch and into classrooms, providing learning resources from other ESFA partners that can be useful tools to engage pupils in the wider world of football.

The ESFA and Pro:Direct Sport will work together to create fantastic Schools’ Football Week opportunities for all participants in 2024.

Marvin Robinson, ESFA Chair said: “On behalf of the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA), I am thrilled to announce the further strengthening of our partnership with Pro:Direct for Schools’ Football Week 2024. 

This campaign has consistently been a remarkable platform for celebrating the extensive benefits of schools’ football. Collaborating with Pro:Direct allows the ESFA to extend our reach and share our enthusiasm for this initiative more widely each year.  I eagerly anticipate the variety of activities scheduled by schools from 5th to 11th February and am excited to witness the continued growth and impact of this campaign in 2024“

Activity for Schools’ Football Week 2024 can be registered by clicking this link. There are also lots of useful resources and downloads on the SFW resources page, here. Don’t forget”¦all schools and Associations that register before Friday 8^th December will be entered into a draw to win £1k worth of football equipment – don’t miss out on the chance to win!