u10 girls futsal

U10 Girls and U12 Girls FA Pokémon Futsal Youth Cup Local Qualifying takes place

Teams from across Kent came to compete for places at the regional event later this year.

Check out the reports on the matches below.

U10s

At 8:30am, four very excited U10 teams arrived, preparing for the tournament to start at 9am. Langton Green CSA, Sittingbourne Ladies FC, East Kent FC and Gillingham Women played a round-robin group stage of futsal across the morning to determine who would be the top two teams to go into the final. The winner of the day was playing for a place in the regional stage of the competition, which is taking place later in the year.

Gillingham Women finished the group stage with a perfect record, and Langton Green CSA followed closely behind to set up a fantastic final. The final was closely contested, and both teams battled incredibly hard until the final whistle, but it was Gillingham Women who just had the edge and finished as the winners to conclude a great morning of futsal and book their place on the regional stage of the competition!

U12s

The U12 Girls Competition got underway at 12:30pm and saw six teams compete for a spot in the regional stage of the competition. Two East Kent FC teams, two Anchorians FC teams, Canterbury Eagles and Gillingham Women, played in a round-robin group stage, with the two highest-scoring teams progressing to the final.

Once again, the standard of futsal played was remarkable, with acknowledgement needed to be made to the level of goalkeeping at the competition! After five games, the scores were very close, but the two teams entering the final were Anchorians Halos FC and Gillingham Women. After a very exciting 20 minutes, Gillingham edged out on top and won the game- so they will advance to the regional event.

Pokemon Futsal Cup

Toby Elgar and Rebecca Moore, Kent FA Football Development Officers, said: "We'd like to thank all those in attendance for creating a fantastic day of futsal!

"The talent level on display was incredibly high, with some brilliant team play and individual skill. It was truly inspiring to see so many young girls playing a format of football the majority had never played before and doing so with a smile on their faces. Players, coaches and spectators all conducted themselves impeccably well for the duration of the event, giving nothing but encouragement and positivity throughout the tournament. Congratulations to Gillingham Women U10s and U12s for winning the competitions, and we wish them all the best heading into the regional stages later in the year. We want to thank our fantastic futsal referees, Ben Fuller, Jake Fuller and Ben Brewster, for their time and efforts on the day and our hosts, Medway Park.

"We cannot wait to start planning for next year's competition and hopefully grow the interest to make it bigger and better for all age groups to enjoy the experience!"