Tag: schools football week

Schools' Football Week

ESFA Highlight Schools’ Football Week benefits on Girls’ Football

The English Schools' FA
  • Over 57,000 girls have been given the opportunity to take part in football activity as a result of the 2022 Schools’ Football Week campaign, in association with Haier
  • Over 500 schools promoted girls’ football as part of the week-long campaign
  • Around 30,000 girls have taken part in the ESFA’s National Cup competitions in 21/22

The English Schools’ FA (ESFA) has seen schools’ football for girls grow year on year since the inception of their girls’ National Cup competitions in 1996 and the 21/22 season has taken numbers to new heights. The Association, which is also the Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England, welcomed 1,670 girls’ team entries into competitions for the current season, equating to around 30,000 girls having the opportunity to represent their school, district or county on the pitch in one of the 13 available competitions.

The ESFA’s Schools’ Football Week campaign, in association with Haier, the No.1 Global Major Appliance brand, returned on the 7 – 13th February 2022 and the Association took the opportunity to champion Girls’ Football as a key part of the campaign. As a result of this, the ESFA has seen –

  • Over 500 schools promote girls’ football during Schools’ Football Week
  • Over 57,000 girls have been given the opportunity to take part in football activity within their school
  • Over 200 schools have offered girls’ football tournaments
  • Over 300 schools are keen to begin running regular activity for their female players

If all 300 schools do begin to run regular girls’ activity, this could introduce around 3,000 girls into the game through their school.

The Schools’ Football Week campaign has escalated to new heights in 2022, with more schools and pupils than ever before engaging with the initiative. 

Schools’ Football Week 2022 saw:

  • 815 schools register activity (increase of 324 from 2021)
  • 10,022 teams benefit from activity (increase of 1,595 from 2021)
  • 142,881 pupils benefit from schools’ football (increase of 37,287 from 2021)

The ESFA kicked off the Schools’ Football Week celebrations on Monday 7th February by streaming draws for 30 National Schools’ Cup competitions on it’s YouTube channel, ESFA TV. The draws included 7 Girls’ competitions and were made by two of West Bromwich Albion’s Women’s First Team players, Maz Mahmood and Izzy Green. The broadcast had over 10,000 views, over 5,000 of which were live on the night with over 300 accounts tuning into watch the U14 PlayStation Schools’ Cup for Girls’ draw taking place.

On Tuesday 8th February, the ESFA hosted the Deaf Schools’ Football Finals in Derby, seeing over 100 pupils from across England travel to take part in the tournament, including a competition specifically for girls’ teams. The Royal School for the Deaf, Derby (RSDD) took home the girls’ cup on the day, after the squad scored 24 goals and conceded just 2 on the day.

Louise White, teacher from RSDD said “By talking about the Deaf Schools’ Finals during Schools’ Football Week, it may encourage other Deaf Schools, or schools with Hearing Impaired Units to take part in future years!”

The ESFA spoke to Summer, RSDD’s goalkeeper after the tournament had finished and she said “I enjoy playing with them [my school friends] in the matches and winning. We won today without losing any games! I have enjoyed getting tips from my team-mates, I feel really proud and have enjoyed today.”

Schools’ Football Week has been a resounding success for the English Schools’ FA in 2022 and the focus on girls’ football has been a fantastic way to continue to promote the work the English Schools’ FA does in promoting girls’ football to all schools.

Antony Peart, Director of Brand and Communications UK and ROI at Haier said “It’s been an incredible week of sports. We are delighted that so many schools across the nation took part in Schools’ Football Week. A huge congratulations to Heathlands School,  Mary Hare School and the  Royal School For Deaf Derby, who took trophies home. On behalf of Haier we would also like to thank all schools who took part in Schools Football Week.”

Mark Hignett, ESFA Chairman 21/22 said: “Schools’ Football Week 2022, in association with Haier, has been an incredible success for the English Schools’ FA. It has been a privilege to see the amount of schools’ football activity that has taken place between the 7th – 13th February as part of our campaign. I have been particularly delighted to see the uptake in girls’ football as a direct result of this initiative. The ESFA is proud to have promoted girls’ football for well over 20 years, as part of its National Cup competitions and later, as part of the U15 England Schoolgirls’ international programme. It has been wonderful to see the numbers of participation grow year on year, but to see the level of excitement for girls’ football as part of the SFW programme has been so encouraging for us, as the Governing Body for Schools’ Football. We will continue to support the participation and development of girls’ football and are delighted to have been able to create this focus for girls’ football throughout Schools’ Football Week 2022″

Schools' Football Week

Celebrating Girls’ Football with Schools’ Football Week & The Arnold Clark Cup

The English Schools' FA

The ESFA is delighted to see that over 53,000 girls will be taking part in some kind of footballing activity across England, thanks to the upcoming Schools’ Football Week initiative from 7 – 13th February 2022.

Over 130,000 school children will be participating in activity during Schools’ Football Week, in association with Haier. The overall focus of the week is to introduce additional football activity into schools, whether on the field or in the classroom. However, with the ESFA reaching record levels of Girls’ National Cup entries for 21/22, the upcoming Women’s EUROs and the Arnold Clark Cup, it felt like the perfect opportunity to hone in on girls’ activity for 2022.

In the spirit of continuing the celebration of girls’ football in England, the ESFA is sharing information on the upcoming Arnold Clark Cup, taking place in three venues throughout February – a great way to further any new found love for the game through Schools’ Football Week –

The Arnold Clark Cup will see four of the world’s top 10 teams clash this February, with hosts England being joined by Germany, Spain and Canada in the inaugural tournament.

Each team will play a round-robin match at Riverside Stadium (Middlesbrough), Carrow Road (Norwich) and Molineux (Wolverhampton), giving fans across England the opportunity to see many of the world’s top footballers in action.

England begin their tournament on 17 February at Riverside Stadium against reigning Olympic champions, Canada, before taking on a star-studded Spain three days later at Carrow Road. The home side’s final fixture will see them up against traditional rival and world number three Germany at Molineux on 23 February.

There are some great group booking prices available and full fixture and ticket information can be found here.

The ESFA is delighted to be promoting this new tournament and continuing the celebration of Girls’ Football past Schools’ Football Week 2022.