West Ham United’s first-year scholars secured their place in the quarter-finals of the U17 Premier League Cup earlier this week with a 3-1 win over defending champions Tottenham Hotspur.
A competition reserved for players born on or after 1 September 2008, our squad, mainly comprised of first-year scholars and a handful of schoolboys, have cruised through to the knockout stages of the competition with three wins out of three, scoring eleven goals and conceding just three.
Mirroring the format of the U18 Premier League Cup, which our young Hammers won last season, only the winners from the eight different groups progress through to the quarter-finals. The 32 teams include all 29 Category One Academies as well as Watford, Charlton Athletic and Swansea City.
Our U17s began their Group G campaign with a 4-0 victory at Ipswich Town on 16 September, before a 4-2 home triumph over Norwich City on 30 September set up a winner-takes-all tie at Rush Green Stadium against London rivals Tottenham.
Under the lights on Tuesday night at the first-team training ground, our U17s claimed a comfortable 3-1 win over the Lilywhites, the only side to have won this competition twice since its inception in 2021.
The other seven teams to join us in the last eight are Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Liverpool, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion.
