By Alex Murray
De Montfort University students are this week getting ready as they prepare to make their debut in the FA’s People’s Cup.
The People’s Cup is a five-a-side tournament organised by the FA.
It is open to men, women and disabled players who will compete in more than 16 categories.
The eventual prize is to collect their trophies on the pitch at Wembley during the FA Cup Final in May.
This is the second year of the competition’s existence, and a group of DMU students are looking to take home the main prize.
Ollie Heppenstall, one of the Journalism squad, said: “Considering I’ve not played football competitively in a long time, I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m confident we can actually surprise ourselves because we’re actually not bad individually.
“I just hope we can gel together on the day, and continue in the competition.”
The team have been preparing all week for their game, as they hope to move on to the next round of the competition.
When asked about their preparations, Ollie said: “We’ve mainly been playing on Nelson Mandela Park, the pitch there is more like the one we’re gonna be on come Wednesday.”
Heppenstall will be joined by Luke Smith, Ross Barnett, Tyler Arthur, Conor de Smith, Alex Blackwell and Derry Keary, with Ruairi O’Connor as their manager.
