Our youngsters have opted to play a year up in the tournament, and will therefore play 11-A-Side in the Under 13s category.

The invite only tournament sees the best teams and players from across the nation represent their towns and cities and compete to become ACES National Champions.

This is the second consecutive year that a Reading City team has had the honour of representing Reading at the ACES National Tournament as last summer our Under 9s were invited to do so.

Initially started in 2009, the ACES National Tournament which is fully sanctioned by the Football Association has become the most prestigious, unique and, without question, the most popular junior football tournament in grassroots football in the UK and will celebrate its sixteenth year this year.

In 2023 the tournament was attended by over 340 teams, but this year’s is set to be the largest yet, with over 400 of the top boys and girl’s teams from England, Scotland and Wales all competing to be National Champions.

Our youngsters will be able to showcase their talent as alongside the 15,000 players, managers and spectators expected to attend will be an array of scouts from all the professional clubs across the Premier League & Football League attend the event on the lookout for potential stars.

Previous tournament participants have been signed by clubs including Leicester City, Hull City, Middlesboro, West Brom, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Huddersfield, QPR, Derby County, Burton Albion, Coventry City, Yeovil Town, Notts Forest, Notts County, Bristol City, Bristol Rovers and Walsall.

Under 12s Manager, Simon Eade told us:

“We are all really honoured to be representing Reading in this tournament.”

Club Chairman, Martin Law had this to say:

“Here at Reading City Football Club, we have established ourselves as ‘The Pride of Reading’ and are proud to give local players the opportunity to play for a Reading-based team as Reading. Since rebranding in 2018 we have been invited to attend this prestigious tournament 3 times where we’ve been honoured to fly the flag for Reading.

As a club, we have a proud record of developing players to reach their full potential and are equally proud to be a stepping stone for our youngsters who are exceptionally talented and the ACES National tournament gives them a platform to showcase their talent in front of scouts from some of the country’s biggest teams.

Best of luck Boys.”