ESFA Competition Entries Open for season 2017-18

Thursday 15 June 2017By ESFA Office

Last Updated:
10/02/2021 10:50:08

But don’t delay – you only have until Friday 30 June to enter!

The ESFA National Competitions Department are excited to announce entries for the 2017-18 Competitions’ Season are now open.

The ESFA offers National Cup competitions for all secondary schools and further education colleges in England so don't let your pupils miss out on the fantastic experience of entering English Schools’ FA Cup competitions for Season 2017-2018! The competitions we run are some of the world’s largest football competitions and nearly 7,000 secondary school football teams competed last season. We firmly believe the ESFA gives your pupils an educational experience of competing against schools outside of your local District and County Cup competitions. The draw is structured so that the early round matches are drawn regionally to save on travel costs, however we also offer flexibility for you to choose to play out of county fixtures, wherever possible, right from the start of the season if you so wish!

We have regular interaction with teams and schools throughout the season either directly or through our fantastic sponsors including PlayStation, Danone and the Premier League. We also work with some other fantastic partners including the National Football Museum and the British Heart Foundation to help increase the value in our National Competition Programme.

Our season ends with a huge set of fantastic National Finals, held at prestigious football stadia across the country. Information on National Finals from 2016-17 can be found on the news page of our website and video footage and highlights can also be found on our YouTube channel, ESFA TV as well as the PlayStation Schools’ Cup YouTube channel.

The Association run a huge range of competitions, catering for all abilities of teams to help aid in the development and to broaden the prospect of fixtures available to school and college teams:

Schools’ Cup Competitions

These are our general competitions, open for any school team to enter. Schools that have Academy Players within their teams are only allowed to field a maximum of 3 to help keep the level of competition fairer for those schools without the availability of these players.

Schools’ Cup for Girls’ Competitions

We have a programme of girls’ cup competitions, designed specifically for the development of girls’ football within the school setting. These range right across all school years from U12 to U18, giving a whole host of opportunities to competing schools.

Elite Schools’ Cup Competitions

In our slightly more elite level of the standard Schools’ Cup competitions, there is no limit to the number of Academy Players that can appear in school teams within the Open Cup. Any teams are welcome to play, if they are interested in experiencing a slightly higher level of fixture.

‘B Team’ Schools’ Cup Competitions

For teams already entered into the standard Schools’ Cup competitions, they have the option to enter another team in the B Team. A team and B teams must be completely separate from each other, which allows a full extra squad of players to experience playing in a National Cup competition.

Small Schools’ Cup Competitions

Designed specifically for those smaller schools that find it difficult to compete with schools that have an abundance of players to choose from – if there are less than 65 boys on roll in a year group, then they are eligible to field a team in this competition.

But don’t just take our word for it, here’s some of the feedback we’ve had from schools in our competitions and National Finals last season:


I just wanted to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU for all the work and effort that you put in to running, organising and promoting the competition over the year resulting in what was our first experience as a school of finals day at Pride Park. It was an UNBELIEVABLE day that was way beyond the girls imagination…

- Heathside School, Kent

What a fabulous tournament and day that you organised for us all. It was amazing, we are still on a high from it all and can’t wait until next year. Your work is much appreciated so from the boys and our PE staff a big thank you for all your work

- Little Heath School, Berkshire

Your competitions are the bench mark for others, as to have such a great venue, organisation and hospitality is what we and our players all work towards to want to experience year after year.

- Hartpury College

Amazing day for all of us! The whole school is still buzzing.Thank you for all your hard work and organisation.

- Church Stretton School, Shropshire

We are always looking for new schools, colleges and teams to join us and if you haven’t entered before and haven’t received any information from us, please don’t hesitate to contact the National Competitions Department on the email address below and we will be happy to help you get set up for a season of exciting fixtures, competitions, interaction and development!

We look forward to welcoming all entries, new and old to this season’s competitions and wish you all the very best of luck.

Follow us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/schoolsfootball

Email us – competitions@schoolsfa.com

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