The Regional Finalists in the ‘Minute Maid’ Schools Cup have now been confirmed. Over 40,000 players and 2,000 teams kicked off the competition back in October – and now only 16 remain. The players involved can look forward to playing their respective Finals at top class stadia – such as League One club’s Northampton Town and Tranmere Rovers.

The road to the final stages is never easy and all teams should be very proud of their achievements in reaching this stage of Europe’s largest 11-a-side schools football competition.

There have been some notable results on the road to reaching this prestigious stage of the competition. In the North Girls section, Durham Johnston School from Durham meet West Kirby Grammar School from Merseyside in the Final – with both having had high scoring victories in the previous round. Durham Johnston put 9 goals past Nelson Thomlinson school, whilst West Kirby put 8 goals past Trinity School.

On the other hand, there have been some tense games in the South East Boys section where Queens School from Hertfordshire will meet Beths Grammar School from Kent in the Regional Final. Beths had to endure the drama of a penalty shoot-out victory in the previous round after their match against St Ignatius College finished 4-4 after extra time. They managed to hold their nerve and win 7-6 on penalties. Queen’s reached the final with a tense 2-1 victory away at Stantonbury Campus.

The victorious teams in the Regional Finals then play in the two National Play-Off matches, with the winners moving onto the National Final at the impressive Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster on Tuesday May 19th.