Saturday April 20th saw the end of season Capital Girls League Festival take place at Chase Lodge Playing fields with a number of different events taking place throughout the day involving teams from all over London.

Festivals

Teams were given the option to enter into round robin festivals at U9, U11 and U13 age groups. We were very pleased to welcome developing clubs Alexandra Park, Old Acotnians and West London Somaliland who have recently started girls football and were using the festivals as oppourtunity to introduce thier teams to the venue and to meet current CGL teams.

The festivals took palce throughout the morning with U9 teams being awarded mini Champions League Final Footballs to assist with developing the girls football skills whilst the U11 & U13 teams received new trianing kit including footballs and a pair of Goalkeeping Gloves for new side Alexandra Park. A number of teams were also awarded 2 women's Champion League Final tickets each to present to their ' Players of the Day.'

Coaches CPD

Kevin Green, our local Tesco Skills Team leader attended on the day to help support clubs with transition from 7v7 to 9v9 football. Kevin put together a presentation to highlight the difference in the game and also to give coaches some ideas around session planning taking into consideration the new format of the game and its additional rules including offside! Kevin was on hand throughout the morning to discuss some considerations which coaches may need to start thinking about ready for the new season.

Player Appearances

We were very pleased to have the event supported by our Local Women's Super League and UEFA Champions League Semi Finalists, Arsenal Ladies who sent along Alex Scott and Jordon Nobbs to the Festival. Both players were fantastic and spent their morning meeting players, watching matches and helping present awards which had been won throughout the season.

Awards

Throughout the season League Coordinator Viv Jeffers has been keeping an eye on fixtures and making a note of any special performances whether by players or teams. The festival gave us an oppourtunity to present these players with a few prizes to celebrate their efforts. Well Done to all players who received awards.

Cup finals

The U11 and U13 Cup finals took place on the day with Alex Scott and Jordon Nobbs watching on and in place to present the trophies to both winning sides. Match reports to follow.

We would like to take this oppourtunity to Thank all involved with the day including all clubs who attended, our referees, volunteers and parents. Special thanks go to Viv Jeffers our league coordiantor, Sam Brown Football Development Officer, Alex Scott and Jordon Nobbs of Arsenal Ladies and Kevin Green Tesco Skills Team Leader. The league will continue for a number of weeks to conclude fixtures which were postponed due to the poor weather in the early part of the year.

Arsenal Ladies will face competition newcomers Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-finals.

Shelley Kerr's side moved only one step away from an appearance in May's final at Stamford Bridge after beating Italian Serie A women's champions ASD Torres 4-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.

The German side clinched a 2-0 (agg 4-1) win at Russian side FC Rossiyanka to secure their spot in the final four.

The semi-finals will be played over two legs on April 13/14 and April 20/21.

In the other semi-final, current Champions League holders Lyon  take on their French compatriots FCF Juvisy Essonne.

Arsenal have lost in the the last four in each of the last two seasons to Frankfurt and Lyon respectively.

The game will be held at Boreham Wood FC 14.04.2013 - tickets are available  on the day.

Source - BBC Sport Website

UEFA today announced a competition to welcome the UEFA Champions League Finals back to London which will give schoolchildren the opportunity to have their flag on display in front of a global audience at the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final at Stamford Bridge on Thursday 23 May.

‘Join the Game’ is the theme for this year’s UEFA Champions League Finals 2013 which will be will be the second time that London plays proud host to the biggest event in both men’s and women’s European club football.

Together with Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and The Football Association, UEFA wants to inspire young pupils to play their part and get involved in this year’s celebration of football.

The flag design competition aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 16 requires participants to design their own personal flag for the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final with entrants asked to capture the spirit of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final.

Children have until April 30 to submit their entries and then a specially appointed UEFA judging panel will select the winning designs. These will then be reproduced as giant flags and used to decorate the Stamford Bridge Stadium during the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final. 

The children who create the winning designs will be honoured prior to the Opening Ceremony and their giant flags seen by thousands of spectators both in the stadium and on television around the World.

The school and football club that submits the most entries will receive an exclusive visit of the UEFA Champions League trophies as part of the UEFA Trophy Tour and a supply of adidas official match balls. In addition, each child who participates in the competition will be eligible for free entry into the Stadium for them and a friend, when accompanied by a paying adult.