The Press and Journal and Evening Express is expanding its coverage of the Aberdeen and District Juvenile Football Association.
Youth football is hugely important to so many budding footballers and their families but, like all sports, it has been heavily disrupted by the events of the past two years.
The temporary absence has undoubtedly made many footballers appreciate those games more than ever.
Every Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of young footballers in the north-east take to the pitch hoping to help their side to victory and maybe even be the hero by scoring the late winner or saving an injury-time penalty kick.
What are we going to do?
We want to shine a light on the Aberdeen and District Juvenile Football Association and give these matches the coverage they deserve.
Our aim is to provide a brief match report and reaction from both managers for EVERY game in the U19, U18, U17 and U16 age groups with the goal of extending the coverage to all age groups in the future. The match reports will be published at 5pm on Sundays.
We will also have regular features on ADJFA teams as well as keeping you up to date with the latest news.
Why do we want to provide more coverage?
Youth football plays a hugely important part in the lives of young people.
It was fantastic to see the Scotland men’s national team reach the European Championships last summer and end their long wait to return to a major international tournament.
But that journey doesn’t start at the beginning of the qualification campaign.
The journey for those players who now represent the Scotland national team starts in youth football at pitches such as Hazlehead, Lawsondale and The Meadows.
How is our coverage going to work?
We will be working with our partner United Robots to compile reports on every game, which will include information such as your team’s current league position, their recent form and upcoming fixtures.
What we really want to bring these reports to life is reaction from the managers of both teams. This could be a brief overview of the game and a mention of the one or two key players who performed well.
Within hours of an ADJFA game finishing, your club’s manager or chosen representative will receive a text message asking for reaction to the game. The comments from the manager will be used in the match report.
You can read the latest match reports by clicking here.
Want to get involved?
If your team has not signed up to be part of our enhanced ADJFA coverage then please email sport@ajl.co.uk and we will get you included on our database.
Participation is optional – if your club or manager does not wish to take part, we will still provide coverage of your matches, but this would be much better with your club’s post-match comments!