Salford City FC will be represented by Lightoaks Primary School in the North West regional events of the Premier League Primary Stars U11 National Girls Football Tournament, in a bid to claim their place at the 2023 finals.

Ten regional events will be staged at community facilities across the country, with hundreds of young people representing Premier League, English Football League and National League clubs hoping to win the opportunity to play at Elland Road, home of Leeds United FC, in the playing kit of their respective professional football club. 

Last year, more than 800 young people took part in the regional events. Caerleon Lodge Primary School, representing Newport County, are the current champions having won the tournament in 2022 at Vicarage Road, Watford. 

The U11 National Girls Football Tournament is one of the competition elements of the Premier League Primary Stars programme. Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of football to help children to be active and develop essential life skills.

Premier League Head of Community Nick Perchard said: “The Premier League Primary Stars U11 National Girls Football Tournament creates an amazing opportunity for girls from across England and Wales to come together and represent their professional football clubs. The regional events help to get more girls into football and bring young people together from diverse backgrounds.”

Premier League Primary Stars enables teachers to use resources across English, Maths, PE and PSHE, to support children to develop skills and values that are crucial to success in later life. Currently 103 professional football clubs from across the leagues run in-classroom Premier League Primary Stars sessions in local partner schools. 

Head of Education at Foundation 92, Donna Hennessy, said: “Being a part of the Premier League Primary Stars programme is very exciting. It has enabled us to work with teachers and pupils from across Salford to give them the skills they need to become successful teachers and young people, alongside supporting key values to embed throughout their lives such as ambition and connectedness.” 

The free primary school programme provides teachers and parents with downloadable resources across a range of curriculum subjects at Key Stage 1 (age 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (age 7-11), developed by teachers for teachers, and in collaboration with subject experts such as the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association. 

More than 60,000 teachers have signed up to access free online national curriculum-linked resources.