Story added: 26th November 2024

Tournament fun at The Nest for the U11 EFL Utilita Cup

On Friday 22nd November, children from sixteen local primary schools were at The Nest for the U11 EFL Utilita Kids Cup.

The Utilita Kids Cup – delivered by the EFL partners, Utilita Energy, the EFL and its 72 Club Community Organisations (CCOs) – is one of the country’s biggest national football competitions for schools and children.

The winner of Friday’s Utilita Kids Cup inaugural round would go on to don the famous yellow and green and represent Norwich City in the regional round of the competition, so a lot was at stake as our teams arrived at a blustery The Nest.

After a competitive round of opening group fixtures, which featured some stunning goals and even better saves, we were down to our final eight teams, who, with the silverware on the line, all upped their game, with several of our knockout games going right to the wire.

Our final eight became our final four, and with the help of extra-time and some heroic last-ditch defending, our final four became our final two.

With a mixture of parents, teachers and eliminated teams watching from the sidelines, Queens Hill Primary School and Drayton Junior School went toe-to-toe in a high-octane final, with the latter eventually emerging on top.

Drayton Junior School will now represent Norwich City at the regional round of the tournament, with the exact location of the event announced in due course.

Head of Schools, Asa Saunders, had this to say about last week’s tournament:

“The EFL Kids Cup schools competition once again demonstrated fantastic teamwork and engagement from all the schools that participated.  The demand to take part in this annual event shows the high quality experience that we can provide schools at this competition.  Congratulations and good luck to Drayton Junior who will represent us as the next stage”