Aaron Mokoena Calls on Schools to Join npower Football League Kids Cup

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Sep 20, 2010, 01:40 ET

LONDON, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaron Mokoena of Portsmouth FC has unveiled the new npower Football League Kids Cup competition, a six-a-side competition for teams of mixed under 11s designed to nurture a new generation of football stars and encourage healthy competition amongst kids.

Alongside the Kids Cup, npower will also be supporting a similar competition for teams of under 13 girls titled the npower Football League Girls Cup.

Aaron is encouraging schools to sign up for both cups by entering their local competition, in the hopes of winning the chance to represent the club at the regional, and then later area and national phases of the competitions.

The best sides will then battle it out in front of thousands of fans before one of The Football League's showpiece finals.

Clare McDougall, npower's head of Education and Community, commented:

"npower is really pleased to be supporting the involvement of children in sport from an early age - a key component of our sponsorship of The Football League. Encouraging a bit of healthy competition amongst kids is great for building their self-confidence and who knows, we may even be nurturing a few future pro players too."

Greg Clarke, Chairman of The Football League, said:

"The npower Football League Kids Cup and Girls Cup are fantastic ways of encouraging schoolchildren to take part in competitive sport as well as offering them the chance of a lifetime to play in front of thousands of fans."

The npower Football League Kids Cup was formerly known as The Football League Community Cup. The road to the Finals starts in September with each Football League club organising a competition for all local schools wishing to take part. The finals of the U11 Cup will be played prior to the npower Football League Play-Off Finals. The U13 Girls Cup will be played prior to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final.

The Football League encourages clubs, if weather permits, to play the final of their local competition at their home ground before a first team game. The winners of that competition then go on to represent the club in the regional, area and national phases of the competition, where they will face schools representing other League clubs.

Each year more than 2,500 schools take part in the two competitions. Last season, Overton Grange School (representing Crystal Palace) lifted the U13 Girls Cup, whilst Folville Junior School (representing Leicester City) lifted the U11's cup in the Championship section, Gateway School (representing Wycombe Wanderers) lifted the cup in the League 1 section and Mudeford Junior School (representing AFC Bournemouth) lifted the cup in the League 2 section.

In addition to activity at local clubs, Sky Sports' newest presenter Ben Shepherd will be launching the national competitions later this month, encouraging kids and schools nationwide to sign up.

Notes to Editors

About npower

npower is one of the UK's largest electricity suppliers and has 6.6 million customer accounts across the UK.

npower sponsors the npower football league

npower has been awarded platinum status in Business in the Community's CR Index and is one of twenty-nine companies to have achieved the CommunityMark since its launch. All CommunityMark achievers have been recognised for demonstrating excellence in their holistic and strategic approach to community investment.