Road to Wembley begins for North East schools

Foundation of Light is holding one of the North East's biggest girls football tournaments which will see the winners represent Sunderland AFC on the road to Wembley. November will see secondary school teams from across the region compete at Silksworth Sports Complex for the chance to don the famous red and white stripes in this season's EFL Girls Cup. The winners will travel to the Northern Area Finals in Middlesbrough where they will face other Championship, League One or League Two teams, in a bid to reach the Northern Regional Finals. If victorious, the junior Black Cats will then walk out at the home of English football in front of 40,000 fans before next year's Checkatrade Trophy Final where they will play the winners of the Southern Regional Finals.

The EFL Girls Cup is a fantastic tournament and offers a great experience for the schools taking part. Our local qualifiers bring together schools from Sunderland, South Tyneside, Washington and County Durham gives them the opportunity to be involved in a prestigious national competition. We can’t wait to see the tournament progress and hopefully one of our teams can make the Grand Final at Wembley.

Helen Byrne, Premier League Primary Stars Events Coordinator

In last year's tournament, pupils from Whitburn CofE Academy won through to Barnsley FC's Oakwell Stadium where they faced teams such as Leeds United, Middlesborough, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. The girls also received a special visit from Sunderland AFC Ladies players, who took part in a coaching session and Q&A. The Sunderland AFC Qualifiers will take place on 14th November (9:30am- 12:30pm) at Silksworth Sports Complex (SR1 3PD). The tournament will be 6-a-side with a maximum of eight players per squad. Each school can enter a maximum of two teams. Each player must be female and under 13 on the 1st September 2018 (Year 8 or below).