On Tuesday 12th March, Cooper & Jordan Primary School represented Walsall FC in the Southern Finals of the EFL Utilita Kids Cup. For the second year in a row the school team became Southern Area Champions and will now represent Walsall FC at Wembley in May.
The Utilita Kids Cup is a National tournament for junior footballers which offers children the opportunity of a lifetime to play at Wembley Stadium prior to the divisional play off finals. For Cooper & Jordan, this represents a second time to tread the hallowed turf at the National Stadium.
Each year the Walsall FC Foundation runs a local school (Y5/6) competition to find an eventual winning school to represent the Club at the Regional Finals. Regularly, over 40 local primary schools take part in the internal competition over 4 weeks in November. The 4 winning schools play off in a “finals day” to have the honour of representing the Club on a National level. Cooper & Jordan came through a series of 8 local games to play as Walsall FC.
The Southern Finals, held at Swindon Town, saw the team win 6 straight games to take the title as Southern Champions beating hosts Swindon, Forest Green Rovers, Sutton Utd, AFC Wimbledon, Mansfield Town and Crawley on the way to the title. They scored 14 goals and only conceded 2 on the way to a close 1-0 win v Crawley in the final.
The team will now face the winners of the Northern Finals in a grand final at Wembley before the League 2 play off final in May. This will be the second year in a row that the school will represent the Club in the final and are current champions after a 3-0 win v Stockport County in 2023. Some of the 9 players will be making their second appearance at Wembley with some newer players experiencing the occasion for the first time.
The competition has been organised and run by Education Manager for Walsall FC Foundation, Joe Roberts;
“It is my first year of running the competition as Education Manager as I only started the role in September. I have been involved in helping to organise the tournament in previous years and was delighted to see Cooper & Jordan win last year. It’s unbelievable that they have won again and I can’ wait to join the team at Wembley for the grand final and, hopefully, bring home the trophy again.
The standard of the local competition was very high so we know the team would show some quality at the finals. They performed really well and I am delighted for everyone involved.”
School PE Teacher, Ryan Moseley, added:“It was a dream come true to get to Wembley, and win, last year. I never thought that we would be back again so soon and I can’t wait to accompany the team and parents back to the National Stadium. Two of the players were in Year 5 last year and have really led by example, as Year 6 players, for the newer members in the squad. I can’t imagine that many schools have made the National Finals back-to-back and I hope that the experienced players help calm the nerves on the day and we represent Walsall FC with pride in May.”
Plans are in place to reward the players for their achievements over the next month and we will look forward to reporting on their big day out at Wembley later in the year.
