Football’s largest ever mass participation tournament, The FA People’s Cup, reaches its pinnacle on Sunday as part of the Sport Relief weekend.
Small-sided provider Goals in Sheffield plays host to the 90 teams who will battle it out for the honour of being crowned 2016 champions across 11 categories ranging from under 14s to veterans plus disability and walking football tournaments.
A record 35,000 people from a staggering 4,300 teams entered the tournament back in January. Round one featured over 2,000 hours of action across 130 venues, with 400 teams going forward to the regional finals across eight venues.
Pete Ackerley, The FA’s head of participation, said: “The FA People’s Cup brings the delights of knock-out football to everyone – and the sheer volume of people who entered shows the tournament’s appeal.
“We established The FA People’s Cup to reignite a passion for the game among those who may have lapsed – and we have clearly achieved that.
“Across the country there are now more varied opportunities to play football than ever before – and anyone inspired by the The FA People’s Cup should visit thefa.com/play-football to find out what is out there locally.”
The FA People’s Cup has been followed at every step by BBC Get Inspired. Highlights from the semi-final are available at bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03kfrl and the coverage from the final will be available on iPlayer and the red button from 26th March.
In addition to getting people back into the sport, The FA People’s Cup is also a wonderful platform to raise funds for Sport Relief. To donate £5 text CUP to 70005.
Texts cost £5 plus your standard network message charge. 100% of your donation will go to Sport Relief. You must be 16 or over and please ask the bill payer’s permission. For full terms and conditions and more information go to bbc.co.uk/sportrelief.
