Fantastic Pool Complex
Swim, slide, splash and splish until your heart's content inside Haven's brilliant pool complex!
With 150 teams from all over Scotland, Northern Ireland, Eire and England participating, ESF in Ayr is the biggest youth football festival of its kind in Scotland! The Old Racecourse sports ground in Ayr is transformed into a quality 14 pitch venue to stage the festival. Located just 2 miles from Haven, it's a fantastic base for the tournament.
All teams are accommodated at Haven’s award winning Craig Tara holiday park, which is set on the beautiful West Coast of Scotland. As well as being located right next to the beach and boasting spectacular views to the Isle of Arran, Craig Tara has a huge range of leisure facilities, great evening entertainment and quality accommodation.
2024 AVAILABILITY UPDATE (25/01/2024):
12-15 April: 2 Team Places Available
3-6 May: 1 Team Place Available
After an exciting day of action at the pitches, there’s a fantastic range of facilities for everyone to enjoy back at Haven. There’s a great indoor pool complex with flumes and slides, an all-weather multi-sports court, adventure playground areas, 9-hole golf course, indoor sports zone, go karts, climbing wall and much more.
In the evenings, the family entertainment venues give everyone the opportunity to relax with a drink whilst enjoying a full entertainment programme. Live bands, shows, cabarets and discos will ensure both kids and parents are entertained throughout your stay.
Read MoreA wide range of accommodation is available at Craig Tara. With prices from £109 per person for 3 nights, plus other ways to save money with free places and Cashback offers, our tournaments in Ayr offer great value for money for teams looking for an action packed tour.
There’s a great selection of places to eat and drink at Craig Tara, with Papa John’s Pizza, the Brigs of Ayr: Lounge-Bar-Café, Burger King and Fish & Chips all on the Park.
Read MoreOur celebrity presentations are a fantastic way to close the festival in style. We’ve been delighted to welcome Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish, Scott Brown, Kenny Miller, Aiden McGeady, Kris Boyd, Alan McInally, Barry Ferguson, John Hartson, and John Barnes as special guests at ESF in Ayr in recent years!
So, If you’re looking for a great end of season football tour in Scotland, join us at ESF in Ayr and make 2024 a year your players and families will never forget!
There's a fantastic range of sport & leisure facilities at Haven to keep your whole party entertained while you're on tour.
Swim, slide, splash and splish until your heart's content inside Haven's brilliant pool complex!
When the football stops the fun continues! There's a fantastic range of facilities on resort at Haven.
Whizz around the hairpins or take a leap of faith on One Big Jump!
Live bands, shows and discos and more will keep everyone entertained throughout the weekend.
Accommodation prices are per person for the weekend (Fri, Sat & Sun night), including Haven entertainment passes and ESF 2023 wristbands.
Accommodation prices are per person for the weekend (Fri, Sat & Sun night), including Haven entertainment passes and ESF 2024 wristbands.
12-15 Apr 2024:£129pp - £165pp
3-6 May 2024:£135pp - £172pp
Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan, Kenny Miller, Scott Brown, Alan McInally, Kris Boyd, John Hartson and many more have all joined us at ESF!
Every child receives a quality award as a memento of ESF at our celebrity presentation ceremony!
Your team will feel like they’re in the Premier League with live fixture updates in the ESF App.
5-a-side: Max squad size = 10 players
7-a-side: Max squad size = 14 players
9-a-side: Max squad size = 16 players
PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with SYFA rules, the U8 – U12 age sections at ESF 2023 in Ayr will be non-competitive and results will not be recorded. All players will receive a quality participation trophy from a football celebrity to celebrate the achievements of all the children.
£129 per 5-a-side team
£169 per 7-a-side team
£189 per 9-a-side team
OR Club Registration Fee (unlimited teams) = £399
ESF 2024 Early Booking Offer
Register before 31 August 2023 and save 50% on the Registration Fees above
Friday: No football is played on the day of arrival, so teams can relax and get settled into accommodation and enjoy the evening’s entertainment. Check in for accommodation is from 4pm, but you can arrive on resort from 1pm. A briefing meeting for Group Leaders & Coaches will take place on Friday evening.
Saturday & Sunday: There’s an electric atmosphere around the pitches as the action starts and ESF kicks off. All teams will play group stage matches on both days. Where required, knock out matches will take place following the group stages. Teams should expect to play 5 – 8 games over the weekend, depending on the festival format and how for the team progress in the festival. The ESF celebrity presentation ceremonies will take place on the Sunday afternoon/evening.
Monday: No football is played on the Monday. Teams therefore have the option of travelling home on the Sunday evening or Monday. Check Out is 10am on Monday but you do not have to leave the resort until Midday.
You will be allocated one ESF 2024 wristband for each member of your party booked through ESF Events. Please be aware that people without a wristband will not be able to participate in the festival, attend the presentation ceremony or enter evening entertainment venues at the holiday centres.
A full final briefing email will be sent to the Group Leaders of all participating teams 7-10 days before the festival takes place. The final briefing will include fixtures, schedules and the festival rules, which have been sanctioned by the appropriate National Football Association. At this stage, the ESF App will also go live displaying all festival fixtures and schedules.
ESF is a festival for grassroots teams of all abilities. All teams must be affiliated to a County, Area or School Football Association. Centre of Excellence and Academy teams affiliated to professional clubs and ‘representative’ sides are not permitted to enter ESF 2024. Please contact ESF Events before registering if you have any questions regarding the eligibility of your team(s).
In accordance with FA rules, boys who are currently registered with an FA Premier League or Football League Academy are not permitted to participate in ESF 2024.
In accordance with FA rules, girls who are registered with a Regional Talent Club are permitted to participate in ESF 2024, providing they are currently a registered player for the team participating in ESF 2024, and they have approval from the RTC to participate in grassroots football. Please note, girls registered with a Regional Talent Club cannot participate in ESF 2024 as a ‘Guest Player’.
Please contact ESF Events if you have any questions regarding the eligibility of any of your players.
Age Group | Born on or after |
---|---|
U12 | 1 Jan ’12 |
U11 | 1 Jan ’13 |
U10 | 1 Jan ’14 |
U9 | 1 Jan ’15 |
U8 | 1 Jan ’16 |
SPECIAL DISPENSATION: At the ESF festivals in Ayr, where National Associations employ different age group qualification dates (i.e. 1st September as per the English FA), their domestic age levels will be accepted. Therefore an English U12 team would play in the U12 section at the ESF festivals in Ayr.
Teams are permitted to register a maximum of two ‘guest players’ for the festival. ‘Guest players’ are players who are not currently registered with your club. They must produce documentary evidence to your club secretary to prove that they are the correct age and they must bring these documents with them to the festival.
All players will receive a quality award as a memento of ESF 2024. The ESF Fair Play Awards, Magic Moment Awards and Player of the Tournament Award are also presented in each age group.
PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with the Scottish Youth Football Association rules, the U8 – U12 age sections at the ESF 2024 festivals in Ayr will be played on a friendly, round robin basis, and results will not be recorded. All players will receive a quality award from a football celebrity to celebrate the achievements of all the children.
Teams from the local area where the festivals are staged are permitted to apply for entry by returning the Team Registration Form. However, we cannot guarantee a place in the festival until the numbers of touring teams are finalised in each age group. At this stage, if additional teams are required in a given age group for the good of the festival, applications from local teams will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis.
Please note: If you have any queries or any other information regarding any of the tournament information detailed above, please call 01664 566360 or email us here at ESF Events.
© 2024 ESF Events LTD | Terms of use | Privacy & cookie policy