Football World Cup Activities for Schools
Here at PE Planning, we love every sport, and are excited about cheering on the Welsh and English teams. But for those who are a little more ‘football-fobe’ , here’s some information that will help you to share the excitement with your primary school pupils...
Whether you are or aren’t a football-fanatic, you will not have escaped the build up to this year’s Football World Cup.
Here at PE Planning, we love every sport, and are excited about cheering on the Welsh and English teams. But for those who are a little more ‘football-phobe’ , we’ve some World Cup activities for schools, plus some information that will help you to share the excitement with your primary school pupils:
The amazing England Women’s football team beat Germany to win the European Football Championships earlier this year, and are now preparing for their World Cup Championships due to start in Australia and New Zealand in July 2023. In the meantime, it’s over to the men…
The Football World Cup started this Sunday (20th November) and lasts 30 days. Qatar are the hosts of this year’s tournament. Players will have to deal with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees!
Sadly, the Scottish and Northern Irish teams did not make it through to this years finals, but the Welsh team has qualified for the first time in 64 years, and the English team is amongst the favourites for winning the whole competition.
For the first 2 weeks, teams play in groups for points with the highest scoring team from each group progressing to the final stages. The final stages are based on a knock-out competition; if you lose a game you go home, if you win you play the next team, until there are just 2 teams remaining for the big final on 18th December.
For those who really want to impress their pupils, here’s a rough guide to the England and Wales players, and where you will see them on the pitch…
England National Men’s Team
| England National Team (Usually Play in White & Blue kit) | Squad Number | Position | Club |
| – | |||
| Jordan Pickford | 1 | Goalkeeper | Everton (Eng) |
| Nick Pope | 13 | Goalkeeper | Newcastle United (Eng) |
| Aaron Ramsdale | 23 | Goalkeeper | Arsenal (Eng) |
| Kyle Walker | 2 | Defender | Manchester City (Eng) |
| Luke Shaw | 3 | Defender | Manchester United (Eng) |
| John Stones | 5 | Defender | Manchester City (Eng) |
| Harry Maguire | 6 | Defender | Manchester United (Eng) |
| Kieran Trippier | 12 | Defender | Newcastle United (Eng) |
| Eric Dyer | 15 | Defender | Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) |
| Conor Coady | 16 | Defender | Everton (Eng) |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | 18 | Defender | Liverpool (Eng) |
| Ben White | 21 | Midfielder | Arsenal (Eng) |
| Declan Rice | 4 | Midfielder | West Ham (Eng) |
| Jordan Henderson | 8 | Midfielder | Liverpool (Eng) |
| Kalvin Philips | 14 | Midfielder | Manchester City (Eng) |
| Mason Mount | 19 | Midfielder | Chelsea (Eng) |
| Phil Foden | 20 | Midfielder | Manchester City (Eng) |
| Conor Gallagher | 26 | Midfielder | Chelsea (Eng) |
| Jude Bellingham | 22 | Midfielder | Borussia Dortmund (Ger) |
| James Maddison | 25 | Midfielder | Leicester City (Eng) |
| Jack Grealish | 7 | Forward | Manchester City (Eng) |
| Harry Kane | 9 | Forward | Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) |
| Raheem Sterling | 10 | Forward | Chelsea (Eng) |
| Marcus Rashford | 11 | Forward | Manchester United (Eng) |
| Bukayo Saka | 17 | Forward | Arsenal (Eng) |
| Callum Wilson | 24 | Forward | Newcastle United (Eng) |
Wales National Men’s Team
| Wales National Team (will usually play in red kit) | Squad Number | Position | Club |
| – | |||
| Wayne Hennessey | 1 | Goalkeeper | Nottingham Forest (Eng) |
| Danny Ward | 12 | Goalkeeper | Leicester City (Eng) |
| Adam Davies | 21 | Goalkeeper | Sheffield United (Eng) |
| Chris Gunter | 2 | Defender | Wimbledon (Eng) |
| Neco Williams | 3 | Defender | Nottingham Forest (Eng) |
| Ben Davies | 4 | Defender | Tottenham (Sco) |
| Chris Mepham | 5 | Defender | Bournemouth (Eng) |
| Joe Rodon | 6 | Defender | Rennes (Fra) |
| Connor Roberts | 14 | Defender | Burnley (Eng) |
| Ethan Ampadu | 15 | Defender | Spezia (Ita) |
| Tom Lockyer | 17 | Defender | Luton Town (Eng) |
| Ben Cabango | 24 | Defender | Swansea City (Wal) |
| Joe Allen | 7 | Midfielder | Swansea City (Wal) |
| Harry Wilson | 8 | Midfielder | Fulham (Eng) |
| Aaron Ramsey | 10 | Midfielder | Nice (Fra) |
| Joe Morrell | 16 | Midfielder | Portsmouth (Eng) |
| Jonathan Williams | 18 | Midfielder | Swindon Town (Eng) |
| Sorba Thomas | 22 | Midfielder | Huddersfield Town (Eng) |
| Dylan Levitt | 23 | Midfielder | Dundee United (So) |
| Rubin Colwill | 25 | Midfielder | Swansea City (Wal) |
| Mathew Smith | 26 | Midfielder | MK Dons (Eng) |
| Brennan Johnson | 9 | Forward | Nottingham Forest (Eng) |
| Gareth Bale | 11 | Forward | Los Angeles FC (USA) |
| Kieffer Moore | 13 | Forward | Bournemouth (Eng) |
| Mark Harris | 19 | Forward | Cardiff City (Wal) |
| Daniel James | 20 | Forward | Fulham (Eng) |
Football World Cup Activities for Schools
We have created some one-off World Cup activities for schools so you can celebrate the World Cup with your pupils. These activities (in our calendar section) are very easy to follow, and perfect for rewarding primary school children. We hope you like them.
Whilst considering this blog, we were mindful of the controversy over the human rights laws in Qatar. Whilst this is an important subject to us at PE Planning, we feel it is important to focus on the football with our primary school pupils and remind them that sport is a wonderful place for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Let’s support our England and Wales men and hope they achieve as much as the England Lionesses did at the Euros!!
COME ON ENGLAND AND WALES!!!
