ESFA Announce Schools’ Football Week 2022
Schools’ Football Week (SFW) is an ongoing English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) initiative designed as an opportunity for schools, teams, Associations and clubs from across the country to embrace schools’ football and the wellbeing benefits it provides to pupils and players. It celebrates the importance of schools’ football, competitive or otherwise, to pupils across England and provides teachers and coaches with tools and a motivation to further discuss the benefits of schools’ football within their educational environment.
This year, the ESFA is delighted to announce a new partnership with Haier, the No.1 Global Major appliance brand who will support the Schools’ Football Week campaign and help raise more awareness of this initiative than ever before.
The focus for Schools’ Football Week 2021 was to provide an opportunity for children to get outside, have fun and enjoy being able to play sport with their school friends, after so much time spent in lockdown. The ESFA is sticking to these principles for 2022, but with the schools’ football season in full swing for 21/22, the ESFA has received a record number of girls’ team entries and SFW presents the perfect opportunity to focus in on highlighting and celebrating the continued growth of girls’ football.
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The ESFA, in association with Haier, will be encouraging schools, Associations, clubs and teams to introduce some football-related activity into their environments throughout SFW, using their SFW guide. From football-themed lessons, to inter-house or intra-school tournaments, the campaign is designed to celebrate Schools’ Football, Girls’ Football and everything in between, in a way that is inclusive to all pupils and players.
SFW 2021 saw:
Over 100,000 school pupils in England take part in Schools’ Football Week activity
Over 500 schools register participation
Over 8,500 teams embrace SFW activity
The ESFA is hoping to engage in even more activity for the 2022 campaign and also looking to gather some positive feedback from participants regarding girls’ football activity in England. In the 2021/22 season, the English Schools’ FA has seen over 6,500 teams take part in ESFA National Cup competitions.
