Splash Waterworld
Swim, slide, splash and splish until your heart's content inside Butlin's brilliant family pool complex.
ESF 2021 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 and fun!
Minehead Town FC 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.
AVAILABILITY UPDATE:
188 Teams Registered for ESF Minehead!
U7-U14 Boys/Mixed Teams: Limited Availability
U10-U14 Girls Teams: Limited Availability
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 the new West Lakes Village have proved to be a big hit for teams wanting a spacious, cosy 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 after a day of action at the pitches!
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, 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 2021! 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 2021 wristbands.
23 - 26 Apr:£95pp - £159pp
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 2021 in Minehead to qualify for the ESF Grand Finale at St Georges Park!
Every child receives a quality award as a memento of the ESF 2021 tournament.
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
11-a-side: Max squad size = 18 players
£99 per 5-a-side team
£139 per 7-a-side team
£159 per 9-a-side team
£189 per 11-a-side team
OR Club Registration Fee (unlimited teams) = £399
Register your team(s) before 30 August 2020 and save 50% on the Team/Club Registration Fees above.
Friday: No football is played on the day of arrival, so teams can relax and get settled into accommodation (check in from 4pm) and enjoy the evening’s entertainment. A briefing meeting for Group Leaders & Coaches will take place on Friday evening at 8PM.
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. The celebrity presentation will take place on the Sunday 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, so there’s time for a final trip to the Swimming Pool or the Funfair.
You will be allocated one 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.
All teams attending ESF 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 2021. 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, and girls who are registered with a Regional Talent Club, are not permitted to participate in ESF 2021.
Age Group | Born on or after | Born before |
---|---|---|
U14 | 1 Sep ’06 | 1 Sep ’08 |
U13 | 1 Sep ’07 | 1 Sep ’09 |
U12 | 1 Sep ’08 | 1 Sep ’10 |
U11 | 1 Sep ’09 | 1 Sep ’11 |
U10 | 1 Sep ’10 | 1 Sep ’12 |
U9 | 1 Sep ’11 | 1 Sep ’13 |
U8 | 1 Sep ’12 | 1 Sep ’14 |
U7 | 1 Sep ’13 | 1 Sep ’14* |
*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 2021.
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, custom designed award as a memento of ESF. On top of that, in each age section there are superb individual and team awards for the Winners, Runners-Up and Fair Play winners, as well as prestigious individual honours, including the ESF Magic Moment award and PLAYR of the Tournament award.
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.
© 2021 ESF Events LTD | Terms of use | Privacy & cookie policy