Greg Dyke wants to see footballers across the country chase their own personal glory in The FA People’s Cup this year.
The FA Chairman was rubbing shoulders with four of England’s heroes from the World Cup victory over 1966 earlier this week.
And whilst that sort of achievement is a dream for anyone playing the game in England, Dyke has urged amateur players to sign up for The FA People’s Cup with ten different titles available in separate categories.
The FA People's Cup
First Round: 22-24 January 2016
Categories: Adult Male, Adult Female, U16 Boys, U16 Girls, U14 Boys, U14 Girls, Male Veterans, Female Veterans, Walking Football (Over 50s & mixed), Disability
Click here to find a local heat and register
"The four guys I met this week who won the World Cup, they started in grassroots with their local teams and then went on to play professional football at a high level,"said Dyke, who joined Gordon Banks, George Cohen, Martin Peters and Sir Geoff Hurst for the announcement of two ’66 commemorative exhibitions on Tuesday.
"Of course, players at that sort of level can’t enter The FA People’s Cup, so it’s a chance to recreate some of your own glory for everyone else who plays the game."
Last year’s inaugural People’s Cup attracted almost 30,000 players from across the country and with the deadline for registration in the 2016 falling on Friday 15 January, Dyke is hoping to see more sign up.
The People’s Cup is open to anyone, regardless of whether they are in an existing team or not, and with entry to it being completely free, Dyke is keen to seen more people involved.
"What we’re trying to do is get more and more people involved in football and The FA People’s Cup is one way of doing that, to enthuse the nation," he added.
Chairman Greg Dyke says the free-to-enter #PeoplesCup can 'enthuse the nation' Enter here: https://t.co/hi6XIuOGXo https://t.co/2wNpTLfkCj
— The FA (@FA) January 7, 2016
"I hope everyone will have a great time doing it, and someone will win, but only one team in each category!
"There’s a whole range of reasons why you want to get people involved in playing, for health reasons, for sporting reasons but this is for football in the end and the people who play it."
The first round will be taking place between 22–24 January and ahead of that weekend, there will be a series of squad-building events around the country, enabling individuals without existing teams to sign up, meet potential team-mates ahead of the games and talk tactics. These events will happen the weekend before in order to give individuals the time to meet new team-mates.
In total, there are ten categories in the competition: Adult Male, Adult Female, U16 Boys, U16 Girls, U14 Boys, U14 Girls, Male Veterans, Female Veterans, Walking Football (Over 50s & mixed) and Disability.
For full details on The FA People’s Cup and to enter, click here.
