Crawley school to fly the flag for Albion at Premier League tournament final
Two teams from Maidenbower Junior School will be representing the club at a national Premier League football tournament in June.
The Premier League is hosting their annual Primary Stars Football Tournament at Leeds United’s Elland Road next month.
The Primary Stars tournament, now in its 16th year, is open to all Premier League teams. Two teams from Maidenbower Junior in Crawley will be representing the Albion, after winning their respective local finals in April.
An under-11 girls side from Maidenbower won our Sussex-wide Albion Cup tournament last month to qualify, while a mixed Maidenbower team were victorious in our mixed Albion Cup tournament to reach the final too.
Schools representing the Albion have a history of success in this tournament, with Orchards Junior School in Worthing becoming national champions of the mixed tournament in 2019.
Matt Dorn, CEO at Albion in the Community, said: “Both teams from Maidenbower did a fantastic job in their qualifying tournaments, and I know they’ll do us and all of Sussex proud.
“The Primary Stars programme is fantastic, and it can provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like this, so we’re very pleased to be able to bring it to thousands of children in Sussex.”
The two Maidenbower sides join Goldstone Primary School, who are sending an under-11 girls team to the final of the the Under-11s Girls National Football Tournament, which is also being held at Elland Road a day later.
After successfully making it through the regional finals, the Hove-based primary school will be travelling up to Leeds to represent the Albion in the national final.
There were 10 regional finals across the country, with hundreds of young people battling it out for a place in the national final, and Goldstone Primary were one of just 20 schools to make it through to the main event next month.
These national football tournaments are 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 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.
Find out more about our work in schools.
This article was written when our name was Albion in the Community. As of August 1 2023, we are the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation.