Utilita EFL Kids Cup Local Finals!
On Friday the 3rd of December 2021, Oldham Athletic Community Trust hosted the regional finals of the local Utilita EFL Kids Cup at KickSonic in Oldham. The Utilita EFL Kids Cup comprises of a six-a-side competition for U11 school children and culminates in three finals across the Sky Bet EFL Play-Off weekend in May 2022.
The EFL Kids Cup involves over 16,000 children across the country and creates one of the country’s largest national football competitions, which culminates in exciting finals at Wembley Stadium in front of thousands of fans before a major national final, as school children live out their dream.
The competition which inspires children to be active, healthy, and develop a strong sense of teamwork, discovered Crystal Palace footballer Will Hughes and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, while David Beckham’s former school Chase Lane Primary walked away as 2013/14 Kids Cup League 1 winners, representing Leyton Orient.
7 schools participated in this morning’s finals day, after successfully progressing from the initial heat stages only afew weeks prior. Well done to Canon Burrows, Hey With Zion, ChristChurch, Hodgeclough, St Matthews, St Martins and Woodhouses for reaching the finals day.
The event was filled with plenty of high quality football, played with a competitive atmosphere as all 7 schools battled for the chance to represent Oldham Athletic at the regional finals.
After a very closely contested group stage, Canon Burrows and Hodgeclough were the respective group winners and therefore faced each other in the final. In an end to end first half Hodgeclough took the lead early on with a brilliant strike from just outside the box, with the ball nestling in the top left hand corner. With only 2 minutes remaining Hodge Clough scored a second to take a 2-0 lead, which ended up being the final result.
Emily Ashworth, OACT Schools Engagement Manager, commented:"It was a fantastic event as we held the final stage of our local Utilita EFL Kids Cup. I would like to thank all of the schools for taking the time to compete in this years competition, every child participating were a credit to their individual school.
I'd also like to say well done to Hodgeclough on their success today, I look forward to seeing them represent Oldham Athletic in the next round in March.”
You can check out the highlights from today below: