Story added: 28th November 2016

The road to Wembley begins for local girls

It may only be November but Wembley was well and truly in the air for girls from a number of local high schools at a Community Sports Foundation tournament last Friday.

Held at the Football Development Centre in Bowthorpe, the tournament saw over 70 girls from eleven local high schools compete for the special prize of representing Norwich City Football Club in the Kinder+ Sport EFL Girls Cup 2016/17.

The tournament, which is free to enter, gives thousands of schools across the country the opportunity to represent their local Football League club, with the grand final played out on Wembley’s famous turf prior to the EFL Trophy Final in April.

Competition for Norwich City’s berth is always hotly contested and this year proved to be no exception. The girls, aged between 12 and 13, enjoyed a series of round-robin fixtures, before a knock-out bracket whittled it down to two finalists: Thorpe St Andrew High School and Aylsham High School.

It was the latter who eventually prevailed, pipping their rivals in dramatic fashion via a penalty shoot-out.

Aylsham will now represent the Canaries in the Eastern Region Area Finals, where they’ll face teams from the likes of Colchester United, Ipswich Town and Southend United.

Should Aylsham progress there, only a South Region Final will stand between them and the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of playing at Wembley.

CSF Schools Development Officer Joe Harvey said:

“The prize of representing the Canaries on a national level is a huge incentive for the teams, and every one of our schools battled hard.”

“As ever, the tournament was played in great spirit and we saw some superb football on display. We look forward to taking Aylsham down to Essex for the Area Finals in the New Year.”

The Kinder+ Sport project is a national initiative from Ferrero UK and the Football League Trust, which aims to get children active and promote healthy lifestyles.