Splash Waterworld
Swim, slide, splash and splish until your heart's content inside Butlin's brilliant family pool complex.
ESF 2024 returns to Butlin’s Minehead, Somerset to stage the most popular youth football tournament of its kind in the South West! Join us on tour for the ultimate weekend of football & fun!
Minehead AFC play host to the festival, along with venues throughout the town and picturesque surrounding villages, offering a warm welcome to grassroots girls and boys football teams of all abilities.
2024 AVAILABILITY UPDATE:
19-22 April: Fully Booked except for U10G & U14G Teams (call to be added to Wait List)
After an exciting day of action at the pitches, the facilities at Butlin’s are perfect for an action packed tour. There's a huge variety of sports and leisure facilities, quality accommodation and great places to eat and drink.
The amazing Splash Waterworld is packed with flumes, rides and slides, and the traditional Funfair with free rides are always a firm favourite for the kids and adults alike. If you’re looking for extra thrills, you can pay a small extra charge for activities like the High Ropes, with the excitement of the ‘leap of faith’, Climbing Wall, Go Karts, Adventure Golf, Ten Pin Bowling or catch a box office hit at Butlin’s Cinema. When the evening comes around, live shows, tribute acts and disco feature in Butlin's state of the art entertainment venues, at no extra cost!
Read MoreThere’s a great range of quality accommodation available to suit all budgets at Butlin's Minehead. The stylish chalets in West Lakes Village always prove to be a big hit for teams wanting a spacious and beautiful place to rest after an exciting day at the pitches.
Butlin’s Dining Plans always prove to be extremely popular. There’s a wide selection of choices available and you can go back for seconds as many times as you like – perfect for hungry young footballers!
Read MoreThe ESF presentation ceremonies are the perfect way to close the festival. Every child will receive a quality award as a memento of the festival and there are superb awards for the winners, runners up and fair play winners in each age section. John Barnes, Casey Stoney, Darren Bent, Matt Le Tissier, Stuart Pearce, Sue Smith and Danny Murphy have all made special guest appearances at ESF at Butlin’s Minehead in recent years.
We can’t wait for ESF to return to Butlin’s Minehead in 2024! Reserve your place today and make this season one your players, coaches and supporters will never forget.
There's a fantastic range of facilities at Butlin's to keep everyone entertained while you're on tour.
Swim, slide, splash and splish until your heart's content inside Butlin's brilliant family pool complex.
Go round, up, down, spin and whizz through the air in Butlin's fairgrounds - with loads of free rides!
When the football stops the fun continues! There's a fantastic range of facilities on resort at Butlin's.
Live shows, tribute acts, discos and more will keep everyone entertained throughout the weekend.
There's a great range of places to eat & drink, with Half Board meal packages also available.
Accommodation prices are per person for the weekend (Fri, Sat & Sun night), including Butlin's entertainment passes and ESF 2024 wristbands.
19 - 22 Apr 2024:£109pp - £185pp
John Barnes, Casey Stoney, Danny Murphy, Matt Le Tissier & Sue Smith have all made special guest appearances in recent years!
Win your age section at ESF 2024 in Minehead to qualify for the ESF Grand Finale at St Georges Park!
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
£129 per 5-a-side team
£159 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 | Born before |
---|---|---|
U14 | 1 Sep ’09 | 1 Sep ’11 |
U13 | 1 Sep ’10 | 1 Sep ’12 |
U12 | 1 Sep ’11 | 1 Sep ’13 |
U11 | 1 Sep ’12 | 1 Sep ’14 |
U10 | 1 Sep ’13 | 1 Sep ’15 |
U9 | 1 Sep ’14 | 1 Sep ’16 |
U8 | 1 Sep ’15 | 1 Sep ’17 |
U7 | 1 Sep ’16 | 1 Sep ’18* |
*In accordance with FA rules, once a player has turned 6 years of age they will be permitted to participate in the U7 age section at ESF 2024.
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.
Every child who participates receives a high quality award as a memento of ESF. In addition, in each age section there are superb individual and team awards for the Winners, Runners-Up and Fair Play winners, as well as prestigious honours, including the ESF Fair Play Awards, the Magic Moment Awards and Player of the Tournament Awards.
PLEASE NOTE: The FAW have previously stated that all teams from Wales in the U7-U11 age groups must participate on a non-competitive basis, in line with FAW regulations. The FAW may also stipulate this for ESF 2024. If so, U7 – U11 teams from Wales can participate in the Group Stages of the festival, playing games on the Saturday & Sunday, but they cannot progress to the Playoff Stages (Semi Final & Final) on the Sunday afternoon.
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 click here to email ESF Events.
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