NEXT month’s KBB Suffolk FA Grassroots Festival is set to the biggest yet!

The eighth annual festival is taking place at Whitton United FC on the outskirts of Ipswich on Saturday and Sunday, May 19th and 20th, after moving from its home of the past four years at the town’s Gainsborough Sports Centre.

The set-up of the pitches and equipment at Whitton United is conducive to allow 11v11 football to be played alongside all of the other festivals for the first time.

There will also be an inaugural disability festival on the Sunday afternoon featuring the Suffolk Ability Counts League which is made up of Pan Disability players.

Suffolk FA Mini & Youth Soccer Football Development Officer James Morley, who is co-organising the Festival, said: “Although we have moved to a smaller-sized venue, with the number of available pitches reducing, we have still managed to make year’s festival the biggest ever, and the theme will be the biggest football event in the world, The FIFA World Cup.

“We have the same number of festivals as previous seasons at different age groups for boys and girls from under-7s to under-16s, with our normal formats of 5v5, 7v7 and 9v9. But for the first time ever for we will have 11v11 for under-15 & under-16 mixed teams.

“At the same time as the Suffolk Ability Counts League Festival on the Sunday afternoon, we will be staging a county cup final for the first time at our Grassroots Festival since 2014.

“This will be the Suffolk Under-13 Girls’ Cup Final between Ipswich Valley Rangers and Beccles Town.

“With all of the new additions to this year’s Festival and the same number of festivals across the two days, we are trending to have more teams playing.

“We are looking forward to welcoming all of the teams who have signed up to participate in the Festival across the two days and creating a positive environment that will allow them to enjoy the Best Football Experience possible.”

Further information will be sent out shortly to all those teams who have signed up to play in the Festival.