Walsall midfielder Liam Kinsella went to visit young football players from Cooper & Jordan CofE School who are gearing up for a big game at Wembley Stadium in May.
The Utilita Kids Cup is a national tournament for junior footballers which offers primary school children the once in a lifetime opportunity to play at the national stadium.
The Cup involves over 16,000 children 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.
As part of the competition, Walsall FC Foundation have been running their local area group stages and finals to determine which Walsall based school will move forward into the League Two Southern Finals.
It was great seeing so many schools getting involved in the programme and being able to offer their students this opportunity. After many hard fought games and close competition, Cooper & Jordan CofE School won our Walsall FC Finals Day and earned their place in the regional finals.
This in itself was a fantastic accomplishment that each player could take pride in however Cooper and Jordan went above and beyond once again. The Foundation travelled with the school to Northampton for the Southern Finals, the winners on the day would ultimately progress forward in the Utilita Kids Cup and earn their place at Wembley Stadium.
Each school on the day had gone through the same tough process as one another and would be representing their local club as they compete against one another. Cooper and Jordan represented Walsall FC incredibly well both on and off the pitch and gave their games 100%.
We are incredibly pleased to announce that Cooper and Jordan won this regional final and will go on to battle for the Utilita Kids Cup trophy at Wembley!
Earlier this week we were happy to reward the students with a surprise visit from Liam Kinsella. Over the course of the visit Kinsella shared his experience with the children and answered all of their burning questions. The special guest truly inspired our players and raised the excitement for the day even further than before.
It won’t be long until we accompany Cooper and Jordan School to London for the penultimate section of the tournament, be sure to wish the boys good luck and keep an eye out for updates.
Kinsella was happy to go and visit the school to offer the team some tips and wish them well before their big game at Wembley.
“It was great to go and meet the lads and give them some advice ahead of the big day,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and I wish them the best of luck and hopefully they bring the trophy home!”