The Football Association of Wales are hosting two Under 12 FAW Licensed Academies Festivals. The festivals will take place over the weekends of 13/12 and 20/21 August in North and South Wales. The festivals will host 32 teams from the FAW Licensed Academies programme.
The festivals will also include clubs participating in the English Premier League Academy system, the Welsh professional club academies and the FAW Regional Girls squads.
“The role of the FAW Licensed Academies is to ensure that we have in place an infrastructure that provides equal opportunity and choice to players throughout the country. This is the first in a series of new initiatives being developed in our National Academy infrastructure, designed to improve the provision within our domestic player development ecosystem.
Dr. David Adams, FAW Chief Football Officer
“We have identified the geographical challenges with providing high quality competition, and strongly believe that implementing these festivals at our U12 age groups will allow us to celebrate the progression of talent that has been participating in both our grassroots Clubs and Licensed Academies as these children continue their journey along the FAW Player Pathway.
“It is critical for us as the national governing body that we can provide means to ensure our domestic player development ecosystem remains connected to both grassroots and the professional game. These festivals will act as a key showcase event in our FAW Licensed Academies calendar, allowing players the opportunity to highlight their talent on a national stage.
“Our FAW regional programme has been extremely successful over the years and commences at the U13 age group, therefore it’s logical that we are able to commence monitoring talent from the U12 season. We are also extremely proud that these festivals will include our most talented young women and girls players with the inclusion of the FAW Regional Girls squads.”
The Football Association of Wales expresses its gratitude to Bangor University and Llandarcy Academy of Sport for hosting the events and Caernarfon Town and Briton Ferry Llansawel AFC for their assistance.
