The campaign to play the ‘World’s Biggest Football Match’ takes place tomorrow (26 May) across England.
As part of the ESFA’s Schools’ Football Week campaign, Schools’ Football Week – Game On! was created to encourage as much footballing activity to take place across the country on one day. Over 400 schools have registered ‘Game On!’ activity in advance of Schools’ Football Week, equating to over 70,000 players and around 6,000 teams of children. The brief was simple – just to play any form of football on Wednesday 26th May, from inter-house tournaments to a match with jumpers for goalposts at lunchtime – and the uptake has been fantastic.
The ESFA will be leading the way in terms of footballing activity tomorrow by hosting the U13 PlayStation F.C. Schools’ Cup Final at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium. The match sees Glenmoor & Winton Academies (Bournemouth) take on Hurstmere School (North Kent) in the much anticipated 2019/20 cup final.
The match will be the first in over 12 months that is admitting spectators and will be streamed live online via the ESFA’s YouTube channel (ESFA TV) for all keen football fans to tune into. The ESFA’s Director of Operations, Darren Alcock said “We are delighted to be able to host this National Final not only during Schools’ Football Week, but also as part of the ‘Game On!’ activity. The uptake of Schools’ Football Week by schools, Associations and other sports providers for 2021 has been fantastic. It’s been a very difficult 12 months and this has felt like a real opportunity for children to get outside, have fun and enjoy playing football with their friends. We are very grateful for the opportunity to host this event at Selhurst Park and it will be fantastic to welcome along the teams, but also spectators for this prestigious event. We wish both teams the very best of luck in the National Final.”
The ESFA will be keeping a close eye on social media posts tomorrow hoping to see plenty of matches taking place. If you do have some Schools’ Football Week content to share, please make sure you tag @SchoolsFootball and use the hashtags #schoolsfootballweek and #SFWGameOn
Good luck!
The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.