The World of Schools' Football

Welcome to Season 2021/2022

The Schools’ Football Season kicks off for 21/22 – and it’s planned to be better than ever!

September is here, schools have reopened across England after the summer break and the ESFA Schools’ Football Season is due to kick off for 2021/2022. With the Covid-19 pandemic causing significant issues, delays and cancellations to both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, it is with high hopes that we enter into the new season, armed with new competitions, partners and activities for school children, teachers, volunteers and supporters to enjoy.

National Schools’ Cup Competitions

The first National Cup deadlines aren’t until the 25 September, giving schools a chance to settle back into their weekly routines before the tournaments kick off, but fixtures are already scheduled to take place in the first rounds of some National Cup competitions. The National Competitions have attracted almost as many entries as was being received pre-pandemic, a huge boost for the ESFA and confirmation that the schools’ cup competitions offered are of high importance and value to schools and school pupils who take part.

ESFA handbooks and information emails will be distributed to participating schools in the coming days, with full information on competition participation and rules.

Representative Football

The ESFA has changed its competition format for representative football in a shake-up for the 21/22 season, with the Champions Cup now being the title for all District and County competitions. The new format will not only provide more opportunities for teams to play (as the competition is structured in a ‘champions league’ format, rather than knockout), but will also provide a pathway towards more funding for this type of activity. You can read more about the Champions Cup and Player Passport here.

Sponsors & Partners

Keep an eye on our website and social channels throughout September and October, to find out all about the ESFA’s sponsors and partners and how they’ll be supporting the Association throughout the coming months.

We’ll be re-launching all of our partnerships for the new season with lots of information on how we can spread the joy of schools’ football further than just the pitch. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for regular updates and also insights into team accomplishments throughout the coming months!

To find out more about the ESFA’s current sponsors and partners, you can click here.

National Competitions

The ESFA Champions Cup is Coming

The new way forward for Representative Schools’ Football

The English Schools’ FA is delighted to introduce the Champions Cup for the 21/22 season. The ESFA Champions Cup will be the overarching brand for a new set of competitions for District & County SFAs. Based on a ‘Champions Leage’ style format, with more fixtures and a defined date structure, the new competition format will be underpinned by commercial re-branding and investment funded by the ESFA’s Player Passport scheme.

We will be circulating further details on the Champions Cup in the next few days, but we are delighted to be introducing to you the new competition format, that we can look forward to launching for the 21/22 Schools’ Football season.

Representative football is a large part of the ESFA’s legacy and the introdution of the Champions Cup and Player Passport is to provide some regeneration for local rep football across England. It has been created in the hope that it will provide more frequent and regular fixtures for those girls and boys who are selected to represent their District or County, with the Player Passport creating an intelligent way to ensure that all players are eligible for all fixtures and that all representative teams are operating safely and in line with guidance.

Alongside the Champions Cup and Player Passport scheme, the ESFA will also be working on an additional volunteering campaign and support to recognise the 1000s of people who keep schools’ football alive across England, season after season.

We are looking forward to seeing what the Champions Cup competitions bring to the new season.