season 20/21 – English Schools' Football Association

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.

The English Schools' FA

The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.

The remaining 7 ESFA representative team National Finals are to be postponed until September

The ESFA has announced today that the remaining representative team finals (District & County competitions) will be postponed until September 2021. The ESFA has shared the following statement today:

“When the ESFA made the decision to offer these particular rep. team competitions, later than we would during the course of an ordinary season, it was with the understanding that national finals would be probably have to be hosted at non-league club stadia, due to the time of the year that the tournaments would conclude. As many of you may know, practically all Premier League and Football League Clubs undertake extensive pitch renovation work once the season has finished, except for a small window when they allow external providers to use their facilities at their discretion. That window has now passed and despite exhaustive efforts to obtain suitable venues, it has become apparent that this is now not possible. Moreover, St George’s Park is currently hosting the England squad as part of their European Championship campaign and Lilleshall National Sports Centre, which hosted the ESFA Inter-Schools’ Cup finals in October 2020, would be a difficult venue to effectively implement Covid control measures for spectators with it essentially being an public space.

The ESFA Emergency Committee met on Friday evening to discuss the situation and agreed to postpone hosting ESFA National Finals until after the school summer holidays, in September, when hopefully, we will be able to secure a more suitable venue for each of the remaining 7 Cup Finals. This will allow us the opportunity to try and create the best possible experience for the children and associations involved.”

Those Associations still involved in these competitions will be contacted in due course by the National Competitions Department once plans are in place for the scheduling of these events.