“It’s coming home…” England may not have won the UEFA Nations Cup, but unlike our England hopes, The City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College Futsal team are the champions; The  FA Peoples Cup Champions that is! This was the College’s second consecutive year taking part in the competition, but this year they successfully managed to go one stage further and bring home the trophy!

Kicking off in early March, the first round of local tournaments took place across the country, with over 27,000 players taking part nationally! Around 200 venues hosted local tournaments with 15 categories in each, including; under 16s, Universities, adults, over 35s, over 50s etc.

Not only did the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College play host to the College age category 16-19s. A flawless performance from the Sixth Form’s ‘Disco Trimmers’ in the local tournament saw the team triumph in the 16-19s category, sending them straight through to the regional semi-finals.

Once at the Semi-Finals the team showed no signs of slowing down, despite fierce competition from other regional teams, the Disco Trimmers produced another spectacular round, leading them to a landslide victory of the Regional Semi-Final tournament.

The undefeated team then turned their sights on the Final at St Georges Park on 27^th April where they represented the Midlands in a bid for their hat-trick tournament win to be crowned ‘The FA Peoples Cup 16-19 Champions’ the Final tournament saw the winners of each region compete for the title! But that’s not all, the winning team would receive tickets for the FA Cup Final at Wembley on 18^th May 2019 where they will be presented with their trophy during the half time performance.

Lewis Pass, Goalkeeper of the Disco Trimmers reflects on his team’s performance during the Finals at St Georges Park, “We were confident going into the Final, we trained hard and it had shown in the last two rounds, we knew we could win, but you never know how the other teams are going to perform on the day. I am so proud to have been a part of it, and to be able to lift that trophy at the end was the icing on the cake.”

The Sixth Form College provides an incredibly diverse sports enrichment programme, giving students the opportunity to take part in competitions such as this across various sporting disciplines.

David Hardwick, Health, Wellbeing & Sport Co-ordinator at the Sixth Form College, heads up and organises the extra-curricular sporting activities that the College provides.

David added, “It’s a fantastic achievement for students to not only progress to the Final once again this year, but to go one step further and win. All of the team are on the Sports Futures Programme that we run at the College and each player has completed their Level 1 in futsal.”

“This team are currently the 5-a-side Intra College Champions and are now the National FA Peoples Cup 16-19 Champions too.”

“The College offers recreational futsal, 5-a-side and a Talented Athletes Programme in football as well as a variety of extra coaching qualifications to continue our success in these competitions.”

Find out more about our Sport Futures Programme and Sports Enrichment Programmes.