Copley Junior School to represent Doncaster Rovers in Premier League Primary Stars National Girls Tournament 2023

Club Doncaster Foundation will be represented by Copley Junior School in the Yorkshire regional heats of the Premier League Primary Stars National Girls tournament, this Friday, in a bid to claim their place at the 2023 finals.

Ten regional tournaments will be staged at community facilities across the country, with hundreds of young people representing Premier League, EFL and National League clubs hoping to win the opportunity to play at Elland Road, home of Leeds United, in the playing kit of their respective professional football club.

Last year, more than 800 young people took part in the regional events. Caerleon Lodge Primary School, representing Newport County, are the current champions having won the tournament in 2022 at Vicarage Road.

The National Girls Football Tournament is one of the competition elements of the Premier League Primary Stars programme. Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of football to help children to be active and develop essential life skills.

Premier League Head of Community Nick Perchard said: “The Premier League Primary Stars National Girls Tournament creates an amazing opportunity for girls from across England and Wales to come together and represent their professional football clubs. The regional tournaments help to get more girls into football and bring young people together from diverse backgrounds.”

Premier League Primary Stars enables teachers to use resources across English, PSHE, PE and Maths, to support children to develop skills and values that are crucial to success in later life. Currently 104 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local partner schools.

Nicola Moran, Sports Development Officer for the Foundation, said: “It was an amazing turnout for our local tournament.

“We saw 16 teams who all played good football. This tournament provides opportunities for girls who have never played football before with the hope that they will enjoy it and join a grassroots club.

“It was also great to have of the Belles players down to talk to the girls about their training schedules. Providing positive role models to younger ages is paramount to engage girls interest in football.”

The free primary school programme provides teachers and parents with downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 (age 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (age 7-11), developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with experts such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association.

More than 60,000 teachers have signed up to access free online national curriculum-linked resources.