Over 30,000 people have already signed up to the mainstream strand of The People's Cup and now it's disability football's turn, with places at the Finals Day in Manchester at stake and the winners assured of tickets to The FA Cup Final and a pitch-side presentation at the iconic Wembley Stadium on 30 May.
The People's Cup is a 5-a-side format and up to 20 disability festivals will be held throughout England, with the first one taking place at Woodside Leisure Centre in Hertfordshire on 20 March. The festivals are ideal for lower ability players; perfect for those that haven’t played before or dusted off their boots in a while.
There are festivals taking place across the country
Individual players and teams are invited to attend a festival for the chance to progress through to The FA People’s Cup Final on Bank Holiday 25 May 2015.
Players will have a great day of football at one of The FA People’s Cup festivals, and have a chance to be nominated to represent their area at the Final in May.
The following festivals have been confirmed so far:-
• 20 March - Woodside Leisure Centre, Horseshoe Lane, Garston, Watford, Herts, WD25 7HH
• 21 March - Lincoln Christ Hospital School, Wragby Rd, Lincoln, LN2 4PN
• 28 March - Select Security Stadium Halton Widnes, WA8 7DZ
• 11 April - St George's Park, DE13 9PD
• 12 April - Goals Soccer Centre, Outland Road, Plymouth,PL2 3DE
• 14 April - Penrith Leisure Centre, Penrith, CA11 8UU
• 18 April - Harborough Town FC, Northampton Road, Market Harborough, LE16 9HF
• 23 April - DW Powerleague Soccerdome, Derwent Parade, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8BW
• 24 April - Football World, Pontefract Lane, Leeds, LS9 0RA
• 25 April or 2nd May - Bucklers Mead Academy, 1 St John’s Road, Yeovil, BA21 4NH
• 25 April - Newcastle East End FC, Eastfield Avenue, Walkergate, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 4UP
• 25 April - Archbishop Beck High School, Long Lane, Liverpool
• 25 April - Wellingborough Ogs, London Road, Wellingborough School, Wellingborough
If you are interested in taking part in one of the festivals, just e-mail The FA People’s Cup contact below with the festival you’re interested in attending and they will get back to you with player criteria and further details. If there isn’t currently a festival near to you, please e-mail The FA People’s Cup contact with your postcode and name so they can direct you towards disability football local to you.
There are more festivals to be announced so please continue to check TheFA.com for more news.
The FA People's Cup offers entrants the chance to attend The FA Cup Final at Wembley
For those that have already registered interest, The FA will be in touch with details of your local festival or disability football opportunity.
Elite Development Manager for Disability Football at The FA, Jeff Davis, commented: "The Disability Festivals within The People’s Cup is an ideal vehicle for The FA to target lower ability footballers who are new to the game and give them an opportunity to engage in fun football activities.
"The FA has one of the best disability football programmes in the world so it’s great to be a part of The People’s Cup and hopefully it will inspire some players to play disability football on a more regular basis."
Sharon Fuller, Project Lead, BBC Get Inspired added: "We’ve been delighted with the success of the mainstream People’s Cup so far and it’s great to now be able to welcome disability football into the competition. The disability festivals are a great route into football for someone who may be trying it for the first time, and of course there’s a fabulous prize at stake."
The FA People’s Cup Final will take place on Bank Holiday Monday 25 May in Manchester, and the winning teams will be invited to the FA Cup Final at Wembley to receive their FA People’s Cup trophy on May 30.
For more information, contact Tony Snow at The FA on 07811 824 646, email anthony.snow@thefa.com or Gail Sullivan, BBC Sport on 07714 957 088, email gail.sullivan@bbc.co.uk.
