English Schools' Football Association

For the second year in a row, the ESFA are thrilled that Reading FC are welcoming us to the Madejski Stadium to host all 15 PlayStation Schools’ Cup finals over three days from the 18^th – 20^th May.

This year promises to be even bigger and better than last with a whole host of events, competitions and giveaways to complement the 15 prestigious National Finals taking place at the ground. Further to these extras, we are delighted to announce that this year the entire Schools’ Cup Festival will be broadcast live and free of charge on the PlayStation website!

All 15 finals will be given the full professional treatment with multiple, full HD camera angles, instant replays and a commentary team including former England and Liverpool defender, John Scales, who will also play a part in choosing the Man of the Match for each competition, courtesy of 247.TV. The coverage will also feature pre and post-match interviews with team managers and players.

Whether it’s schools, friends, family or simply those with a love of the beautiful game, these live broadcasts give you the chance to watch some of the most talented young footballers in the country, wherever you are. You could well be watching the footballing stars of the future strut their stuff on the pitch!

Finals will be hosted via a live YouTube stream and will be available to view using any number of devices from computers to tablets, smartphones or via the YouTube app on a PS4.

All matches will be available again on replay via the same links for the original stream following the match and highlights packages will also be uploaded for you to view a more concise version of each final. A ‘goals of the festival’ compilation will also be put together and all of this will be available by searching ‘PlayStation Schools Cup’ on YouTube.

So viewers can also interact with goings on at the stadium, you will be welcome to join in the discussions on social media sites too! You can follow @SchoolsFootball or @PSSchoolsCup on Twitter and @psschoolscup on Instagram and use the hashtag #PSSchoolsCup in your tweets to get in touch. Further to this, we will be running Selfie Competitions throughout the festival, giving one person per day a chance to win a PlayStation 4 by posting their selfies online with the hashtag #schoolscupselfie & mentioning @SchoolsFootball or @PSSchoolsCup. With so many ways to get involved this year, you can help us to get trending on Twitter!

If you can come along to the Madejski stadium to watch any of the matches on any of the days then there is ample parking available and free entry to the stands. Spectators enter the stadium via Gate 1 of the West Stand and will be seated in areas G3 – G10. Spectators can look forward to all of the following elements encompassing the events:

• Free parking
• Complimentary match day programme
• T-shirt cannons
• Free giveaways – baseball caps & foam hands
• Half time competitions – crossbar challenges with PS4s to win
• PlayStation gaming experiences
• Selfie competition

We will keep you updated with any further information on the events as we get it and we hope that as many of you as possible will take the opportunity to support all 30 teams that have succeeded fantastically on making their way to these National Finals!