Even More Girls On the Road to Wembley

For the second successive year, a record number of girls have taken part in The Football League’s Girls Cup Competition. There are subsequently more girls on the road to Wembley.

The tournament culminates in a once in a lifetime opportunity to play at Wembley before the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in April. This year 6,288 girls, aged under 13, have taken part in the group stages of the Kinder+Sport Football League Girls Cup. This is an increase of more than 200 girls from last year, which in turn was over 1000 more than the previous record and an increase in of over 23% in the last two years.

Mike Evans, Director of Operations for The Football League Trust, commented: “Following on from the Lionesses success at the World Cup, there is a real buzz about women’s and girl’s football. Both The Football League and Premier League clubs, with funding from the FA and Sport England have worked hard to grow the female game. Our Female Football Development programme has successfully attracted over 30,000 Women and Girls aged 14-28 into football in the last two years. These strengthened connections between schools and their local club has meant another record breaking year in the Kinder+Sport Girl’s Cup.”

The competition, which is organised on behalf of The Football League by The Football League Trust, has a unique format. Each of the 72 Football League clubs run a competition for their local schools, with the winners representing their club, through various stages, on the road to Wembley.  The 72 winners went forward to compete at the Area Finals which were held across the country. The eight area winners will now compete in the regional finals, with two teams winning the once in a lifetime place at Wembley .

In the North

Middlesbrough will be represented by Macmillan Academy

Blackburn Rovers will be represented by Greenbank High School

Shrewsbury Town will be represented by Thomas Telford School

Derby County will be represented by Kirk Hallam

In the South

Millwall will represented by Harris Academy Falconwood

Cambridge United will be represented by Botisham Village College

Swindon Town will be represented by John Bentley School

Brentford will be represented by Teddington School

Evans added: “We have more girls on the road to Wembley, meaning they have a once-in-a-lifetime experience within their grasp. However, perhaps the most important outcome is that the competition is encouraging so many girls to be active at an early age.”