The English Schools' Football Association was founded in 1904 and is the governing body of schools'
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is responsible for the running and development of schools competitions and festivals at primary and secondary school age. The ESFA headquarters is in
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
.
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
(FA) works with ESFA to support high quality, coordinated inter school football competition programmes for all young people. The association run national competitions from under-11 to under-19 age groups. This provides opportunities for young people to have the experience of playing at a higher level by representing their schools in a national recognised competition with all of the finals taking place at professional stadia. In the last few seasons, the ESFA has had finals at the Etihad Stadium, Old Trafford, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Craven Cottage, Goodison Park, the Hawthorns and even Wembley Stadium.
The ESFA's centenary year was in 2004. England Schoolboys v Rest of World was played at
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their ho ...
to celebrate this. The game saw over 10,000 spectators attend.
England Schoolboys and England Schoolgirls
The ESFA also co-ordinate the advancement of players all the way to International level, for England Schoolboys (Under 18) and England Schoolgirls (Under 15) teams. The process for representation follows this pattern; School teams nominate the best few players to go forward for County (or District) trials, from these a County team is formed. The
County Schools' Associations will then nominate players to go forward to regional (North, Midlands, South West, South East) trials and from these players an International squad is selected.
The England Schoolboys represent their Country by playing in the Centenary Shield. Teams in the competition include England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. The Boys also play in friendly matches and in the past they have faced New Zealand, Australia, France and Belgium.
The England Schoolgirls play in the Bob Docherty Cup and the Lloyds TSB Cup. Season 2011/12 was the first time this team was run to help with the development in Girls' Football.
National Schools' Football Week
Schools' Football Week is a national campaign organised by the English Schools' Football Association encouraging schools' across England to engage in footballing activities. The week runs in the last week of February but had to be postponed until May in 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The initiative was first introduced by the ESFA back in 2016 and has grown in stature and participation over the four years since its introduction .The Week includes an initiative called SFW GameOn! with the aim of getting as many school pupils as possible to play on one day creating the worlds biggest football match. Schools Football Week 2021 saw over 8000 schools register their activity and 105,000 school pupils actively involved in the initiative.
A highlight from Schools Football Week 2017 was
Chris Kamara attending Lymm High School, running some coaching sessions with the pupils and answering the students questions.
National competitions
Here is the list of the main competitions
the ESFA is currently running:
* U11 Small Sided Competitions (Boys, Girls, Small Schools & Districts)
* U12 Schools' Cup for Boys
* U12 Indoor 5-a-side Cup for Boys
* U12 Indoor 5-a-side Cup for Girls
* U13 Schools' Cup for Boys
* U13 Schools' Cup for Girls
* U13 Small Schools' Cup for Boys
* U13 Inter Association Trophy
* U14 Inter County Trophy for Boys
* U14 Inter County Trophy for Girls
* U14 Schools' Cup for Boys
* U14 Small Schools' Trophy for Boys
* U15 Schools' Cup for Boys
* U15 Schools' Cup for Girls
* U15 Inter Association Trophy
* U16 Schools' Cup for Boys
* U16 Schools' Cup for Girls
* U16 Inter County Trophy for Boys
* U16 Inter County Trophy for Girls
* U18 Schools' Trophy for Boys
* U18 Schools' Trophy for Girls
* U18 Inter County Trophy for Boys
*U18 Super League for Boys
*U18 Super League for Girls
National finals
The National Competitions Department arrange the Final venues throughout the year to ensure that the players who make it to the final are given an experience that they will never forget.
The Final Venues that the ESFA have been to in the past include:
*
Accrington Stanley F.C.
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AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...
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AFC Telford United
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Aldershot Town F.C.
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Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
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Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their ho ...
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Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club is a professional football club based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in . Nicknamed "the Tykes", they were founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Preedy and moved into Oakwell stadium the following yea ...
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Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first tea ...
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Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre
Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the trad ...
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Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
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Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
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Boston United F.C.
Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known a ...
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Brentford F.C.
Brentford Football Club is a professional football club in Brentford, West London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the highest tier of English football, having gained promotion via the playoffs at the end of the 2020–21 Champi ...
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Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
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Bristol Rovers F.C.
Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...
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Burton Albion F.C.
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Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester, whose team last played in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, in the 2018–19 season. The team are known as "The Shakers", and ...
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Burnley F.C.
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Cambridge United F.C.
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...
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Carlisle United F.C.
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Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...
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Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. Th ...
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Cheltenham Town F.C.
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...
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Chesterfield F.C.
Chesterfield Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Chesterfiel ...
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Cirencester Town F.C.
Cirencester Town Football Club is a football club based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA, the club are currently members of the and play at the Corinium Stadium.
History
The club was estab ...
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Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
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Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...
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Crystal Palace F.C.
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Dagenham and Redbridge F.C.
Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...
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Darlington F.C.
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Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 1884 ...
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Doncaster Rovers F.C.
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Durham City AFC
Durham City Association Football Club is a football club based in Durham, England. Members of the Football League from 1921 until 1928, they currently play in the .
History
The club was established in 1918 and initially competed in the Victo ...
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Eastleigh F.C.
Eastleigh Football Club is a professional association football club based in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England. They currently compete in and play their home matches at The Silverlake Stadium.
History
Formation to Wessex League (1946–1986)
Th ...
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Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
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Exeter City F.C.
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Fleetwood Town F.C.
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...
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Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...
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Hereford United F.C.
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Hull City F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...
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Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in EFL League One, League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not ...
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Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home mat ...
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Leyton Orient F.C.
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...
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Lilleshall National Sports Centre
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Lincoln City F.C.
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Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
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Luton Town F.C.
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Macclesfield Town F.C.
Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020.
Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...
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Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club are an England, English association football, football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English football. Fo ...
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Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...
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Marine F.C.
Marine Association Football Club are an English football club based in Crosby, Merseyside. The club, who were founded in 1894, are a member of both the Liverpool County and Lancashire County Football Associations, and currently play in the .
...
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Middlesbrough F.C.
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Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club () is a professional football club in Bermondsey, South East London, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name ...
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Milton Keynes Dons F.C.
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...
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Morecambe F.C.
Morecambe Football Club is a professional football club in Morecambe, Lancashire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
Nicknamed the "Shrimps" due to the coastal town's local specialit ...
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Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
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Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland L ...
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Northwich Victoria F.C.
Northwich Victoria Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Northwich, Cheshire, which compete in the . They play home games at Wincham Park, in a groundshare agreement with nearby rivals Witton Albion. They had played at th ...
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Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the ...
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Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Trent ...
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Notts County F.C.
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
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Oldham Athletic F.C.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system.
The history of Oldham Athletic ...
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Oxford United F.C.
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
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Plymouth Argyle F.C.
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Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...
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Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is a professional football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, which compete in . They are also known as ''Pompey'', a local nickname used by both HMNB Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth; the ''Pompey'' nick ...
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Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
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Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is manag ...
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Rotherham United F.C.
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
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Rushden & Diamonds F.C.
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Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...
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Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
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Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
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Shrewsbury Town F.C.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third tier of English football league system, English football. The club pla ...
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Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...
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Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...
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Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
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Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...
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Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
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Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
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Torquay United F.C.
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
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Tranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
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University of Keele
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University Coll ...
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Walsall F.C.
Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...
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Watford F.C.
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Wembley Stadium
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West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
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West Ham United F.C.
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Witton Albion F.C.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
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Worksop Town F.C.
Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. As of the 2021–22 season the team plays in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop.
History First cl ...
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Wycombe Wanderers F.C.
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...
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Yeovil Town F.C.
Yeovil Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Yeovil, Somerset, England. The team competes in the , the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club's home ground is Huish Park, built i ...
Festivals
The ESFA also host four football festivals each year
* The Durham Festival (Under 13)
* The North Tyneside Festival (Under 11)
* The Jersey Festival (Under 11)
* The Isle of Wight Festival (Under 14)
See also
*
ESFA Competitions 2003–2004
*
ESFA Competitions 2004–2005
References
External links
Official website
{{County Football Association
1904 establishments in England
Football governing bodies in England
Football in Staffordshire
Organisations based in Staffordshire
School sport in the United Kingdom
Sports organizations established in 1904
Stafford
Youth football in England