English Schools’ Football Association

ESFA Coaching

The FA Youth Review

As you may already be aware, The FA’s Youth Review is now complete and here is how it will affect Secondary Schools’ Football over the coming seasons:

• All changes made following the FA Youth Review relating to formats of the game that children will play are optional for Season 2012-2013. This enables Schools and Associations to have an additional year of lead-in time to support the implementation, if required.

• Player Pathway for Season 2013-2014:

  Age Group	Maximum Format	Recommended Pitch size	Ball Size	Recommended Goal Size
  U12	11 v 11	90 x 55 yards	4	21 x 7 or 24 x 8 (ft)
  U13	11 v 11	90 x 55 yards	4	21 x 7 or 24 x 8 (ft)

• Player Pathway for Season 2014-2015:

  Age Group	Maximum Format	Recommended Pitch size	Ball Size	Recommended Goal Size
  U12	9 v 9	80 x 50 yards	4	16 x 7 (ft)
  U13	11 v 11	90 x 55 yards	4	21 x 7 (ft)

ESFA U12 Schools’ Cup will remain as 11 v 11 for Season 2012-2013 to allow schools the chance to action the correct pitch and goal size for that age group. The ESFA’s advice on this matter is that where possible, the early introduction of 9 v 9 football at your school may facilitate the purchase of goals before the main rush at the end of this season. The Football Foundation is currently operating a scheme to fund 50% towards the cost of new goalposts for 9 v 9 football. For more information on this scheme please visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk

Please refer to the PDFs that are available to download in the right hand margin for more detailed information regarding The FA’s Youth Review.