Category: National Competitions

featured, Girls' Football, National Competitions, Sponsors and Partners

The ESFA & Pokémon launch the Pokémon Primary Schools’ Cup

The English Schools' FA

The English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) and The Pokémon Company International announce the launch of the Pokémon Primary Schools’ Cup 

Primary School children holding a Pokémon Schools' Cup Banner with Pikachu

The 22/23 Schools’ Football season has kicked off with a brand-new partnership between the ESFA and Pokémon, forming the inaugural season of the Pokémon Primary Schools’ Cup. The multi-year partnership will see Pokémon providing opportunities for over 5,000 school teams and over 50,000 players across three competitions for mixed teams, girls’ teams and small schools’ teams.  

The U11 Schools’ Cup, U11 Girls’ Cup and U11 Small Schools’ Cup competitions provide a pathway for teams to progress through three rounds of competition. Beginning in local, District rounds, successful teams then go on to compete in County rounds, then one of four Regional Finals, which take place in the North, Midlands, South East and South West of England. The top 6 teams from each Regional Final will have the opportunity to travel to the National Finals in May, where the National Champions of each competition will be crowned.  

Primary School Children holding the Pokémon Schools' Cup trophy with Pikachu

The Pokémon Schools’ Cup competitions embrace and promote the ESFA’s “15 Benefits” of schools’ football including, but not limited to,  

  • Providing opportunities to develop positive relationships 
  • Helping children to feel they are part of a team 
  • Encouraging teamwork 
  • Teaching respect 

The Pokémon Company International is on a mission to delight their fans through excellent products and meaningful experiences. They hope to help make the world a better place for everyone by creating opportunities to bond and grow through shared journeys and friendly competition. Peter Murphy, Senior Director of Marketing at the Pokémon Company International said, “We’re incredibly excited to now be part of this long-standing competition and hope young trainers from schools all over the country will take part, to enjoy their own shared journey, making new friends and memories along the way”.  

Pikachu with the Pokémon Schools' Cup trophy

Stuart Botham, ESFA Chair (22/23) said, “On behalf of the English Schools’ FA, I am delighted to see the Association and Pokémon embarking on this new journey together, to provide such fantastic opportunities for primary school pupils across England. To be able to align our activity with a brand that resonates so positively with children is wonderful and I am looking forward to seeing how this partnership develops over the coming seasons”.  

Competition and event updates will be shared on the ESFA Website and across social channels throughout the coming months. Make sure you use #Pokemonschoolscup and tag @schoolsfootball in all your results.

ESFA National Finals, featured, Match Reports

ESFA U18 Super League- Opening draws are now live!

The English Schools' FA
ESFA Eat, Sleep, Super League logo

The groups for the ESFA U18 Super League have been drawn and are now live and available to view on our website here!

A player taking a throw in on a stadium pitch with a Super League banner in the foreground
A player about to take a kick in mid-air on the Stoke City FC pitch with the tunnel in the background

As the ESFA U18 Super League moves into it’s 4th year, the competition continues to be a top-quality offer from the Association, designed for those schools colleges and private providers which offer a football academy or development programme at sixth form level. Launched at the start of the 2019/20 season, these competitions expand the ESFA’s U18 offering, inclusive of all establishments that provide programmes allowing students to benefit from regular football training, strength & conditioning and analysis sessions.

The competitions, which pupils in years 11, 12 and 13 are eligible to enter, are based on the Champions League format, beginning with a group phase and followed by knockout competition after Christmas. The National Final will be held during May at a Premier League or Championship stadium, where the two finalists in each competition will compete to be crowned National Super League Champions.

Park View School Women's Team celebrating their victory in the 21/22 Women's Super League National Final
Brooke House's Men's Team celebrating their victory in the 21/22 Men's Super League National Final

The 2021/22 U18 Super League season was a brilliant advert for the competition, with close games throughout the group stages and a thrilling knockout phase that decided the two sets of finalists. The National Finals were hosted at Stoke City FC in May 2022 and were fiercely contested between Brooke House College and London Nautical School for the Men and Park View School and AFC Sudbury for the Women. You can view these finals in full on our YouTube channel below.

For the 2022/23 season, ESFA handbooks and information emails will be distributed to participating schools and teams in the coming days, with full information on competition rules. Deadline dates for planning fixtures in the 2022/23 season can be found here. Competing Team Managers should be sure to add these dates to their diary, ready to begin arranging fixtures with drawn opponents for any point prior to the stated dates.

Social Media

The ESFA is encouraging teams to share match footage, goals, results and posts celebrating their schools’ football season via their social media channels. Teams, schools, players and fans can tag @schoolsfootball across Twitter, instagram and Facebook using the #ESFASuperleauge hashtag for the Association to share as much action as possible.