We’ve got a brand new Spot The Ball competition for you today, with a terrific prize on offer – the New York Cosmos walkout jacket, one of the sharpest items from The Cosmos collection. With such a nice prize on offer, we’ve made sure that the challenge is as tough as ever, with a picture taken from the recent FA Umbro Fives tournament held at Wembley.

The picture features the Diamond Dolls, Umbro’s own ladies 5s team, battling it out against the FA’s women’s team. But where was the ball in this picture before we whisked it away? Click on the picture to go over to the special Spot The Ball site, and then place a cross on the spot where you think it was. You’ve got until Friday 1st July to make your guess, the person closest to the correct spot will win the Cosmos jacket. Good luck, and get spotting!

Many of us might have given up our dreams of scoring the winner at a hallowed venue years ago, but with The FA Umbro Fives its never too late! The tournament, now in its fifth year, is open for 2011, with the prospect of a match at Wembley for the best teams. Regional heats are now underway for the tournament, with regional finals in May. The finest teams are then invited to Wembley on 5th June for the big match at the biggest of grounds.

So, do you think you and your mates could be up to the challenge? Last year over 1,300 teams entered the tournament, which is open to both male and female teams – you can check out some of the action and the winners here. It costs just £25 to enter the tournament, and regional matches are held all over the country so there’s bound to be some local talent for you to take on.

Even if your team isn’t up to scratch, the FA Umbro Fives is still a great place for you to win – there’s weekly competitions being held on their Facebook page, with signed boots, shirts and all sorts of fantastic Umbro gear up for grabs.

If you’re interested in signing up to play in the tournament, head to the official site now for more information and to sign up your best squad!

After numerous heats, thousands of teams and plenty of goals, the FA Umbro Fives took place at Wembley this weekend. Teams from all over the country descended on the capital to take part in the event, playing five-a-side on the hallowed turf to find an overall winner. Both men’s and women’s teams took part, and the video above gives a snapshot of the action in both tournaments, while the match reports below from Keith Daniell give us the lowdown on what happened in the final.

For more information on the FA Umbro Fives, and to sign up for the 2011 tournament, take a look at the website.

MDU 4 – 2 Top Draw
MDU were the first ever FA Umbro Fives champions – and now they are back: crowned, once again, as the best five-a-side side team in the country.

Unbeaten throughout the Wembley finals they came through their group stages with three wins and a draw – and despite going behind in their quarter-final against Team SMG, MDU were always one of the 2010 favourites.

Top Draw had also progressed smoothly to the final – winning all of their group games and putting four past International in their semi-final. But MDU were determined from the start to get their title back. MDU’s England Futsal international Rob Ursell was named Player of the Tournament as, despite falling behind 2 – 0, MDU fought back to take the match to extra time. And then scored two more goals to win under the Wembley lights, 4 – 2.

MDU now have more than 50 five-a-side titles of various kinds under their belts – but none as prestigious as The FA Umbro Fives. Next year, and the chance to win the title for a third time in five years, can’t come soon enough!

MDU: Chris McIntosh (manager), Jordan Matoorah, Craig Vargas, Scott Cousins, Kamil Kharas, Lubo Guentchev, Tayo Soyoye, Rob Ursell, Ismet Sumbul

Top Draw: Craig Mills (manager), Adam White, Chris Page, Wes Taylor, Harry Vaughan, Kirk Herbert, Anthony Ball, Dan Page, Aaron Morgan

Hardly Athletic 0 – 1 Newcastle United Blues
A new champion in the women’s FA Umbro Fives.

Neither Newcastle United Blues nor Hardly Athletic qualified for Wembley as regional winners – both were runners-up in their respective finals, Newcastle in the North and Hardly in London. But under the floodlights this was one of the closest finals imaginable with only a single goal in the closing seconds separating the two teams.

Perhaps that wasn’t so surprising – the two teams had met in the group stages already at Wembley and that had finished as a one-all draw. Newcastle, though, had gone through to the semis as group winners where they beat North rivals The Poly. Hardly managed a one goal victory over Adelaide City.

Lianne Sanderson of Hardly Athletic was named women’s Player of the Tournament, but it was still Newcastle who came out on top to be crowned The FA Umbro Fives champions 2010.

Newcastle United Blues: Sarah Eadon (manager), Stephanie Eadon, Stephanie Shaw, Bethanie Gardener, Megan Beer, Courtney Lock, Nichole Havery, Kayte Brooks, Sam Campion

Hardly Athletic: Sid Hayes (manager), Emma Hayes, Rebecca Hayes, Kirsty Pealling, Jenny Canty, Leanne Champ, Debs Cole, Karen Carney, Lianne Sanderson

England are at Wembley tonight to take on Hungary in a friendly, but you could be setting foot on the hallowed turf as well thanks to The FA Umbro Fives. Five-a-side competitions take place all over the country, but there’s only one that offers the chance to play at the national stadium as part of the final. And you don’t just get to play either.

If you make it to The FA Umbro Fives final, you’ll arrive at Wembley on the offical team bus, get your kit on in the famous changing rooms and walk onto the pitch for the national anthem. After the match, the winners will receive a trophy from the Royal Box, and will get to celebrate on the pitch like true champions.

Sounds like the kind of thing you’d be interested in? Of course it does! Well, it’s not easy getting as far as the final – you’ve got to get beat your local rivals in Regional Qualifiers and Regional Finals before you’ll get the chance to grace the Wembley turf. It’s pretty easy to get signed up though – just head to the website, find your nearest qualifier and sign up for the chance to win.

Starting in September, there’s over sixty different locations for qualifiers, with separate tournaments for men’s and women’s teams. So, get your best squad together, get practising your goal celebrations and get signed up if you want to be in with a chance of making it to Wembley!

The final of The FA Umbro Fives tournament took place on Saturday so here is a quick round-up..

Men’s

The 2009 crown was won by Ballers.com from London. They beat 2007 winners MDU (also from London) in the final with the game going all the way to penalties after the sides could not be separated following a 2-2 extra time draw.

Ballers.com battled through a semi final victory over 2008 Champions Real Balers and perennial Fives qualifiers Galacticos in the quarter finals. Earlier in the day Ballers.com thrashed Nike 5’s champions FC Fodder 5-1 in the group stages but stumbled against Maidstone team Sons of a Pitch losing 3-1. Ballers.com also recorded victories over Nike 5’s finalists Harlem and Lucky Break before lifting the rather impressive and heavy UMBRO Fives trophy in the glorious Wembley sunshine.

The only consolation for losing finalists MDU came when their star player Rob Ursell was voted player of the tournament.

Women’s

The women’s competition saw The FA Premier League’s Watford Ladies lifting the trophy for the second time following their inaugural win in 2007. Watford were made to battle all the way in the final which went to extra time before they finally overcame TNS Shrewsbury Town 2-1 with a late goal in a match which looked destined to go to penalties. Neither Watford nor TNS won their group after both teams had been beaten in the group games by NE Danger and Curzon Ashton Ladies respectively.

Lucky 8

Luton team Daily Stars triumphed in the Lucky 8 competition – after previously going out of the 2009 FA UMBRO Fives. Daily Stars were one of those drawn at random, to take part in the Lucky 8 event and they didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The side won every one of their matches on the hallowed turf – recording a double over Thorney Bay, who they beat 1-0 in the group stage and then 2-0 in the final.

Last weekend saw the conclusion of this year’s regional finals in the Midlands. All successful teams will now be looking forward to this weekend’s national finals at Wembley.

This week will also see the draw for the Lucky 8s competition. This will involve 8 teams, who failed to make this year’s final but participated in the event at local heat level randomly being drawn for their shot at Wembley glory.

Has anyone played in any of the matches or going to the Final?  If so we would love to hear from you!

This weekend sees the South West regional final taking place in Plymouth. The weather is set to be fantastic which should add to what promises to be a great day of football. Over 30 teams will battle it out for their chance of a dream spot at Wembley.

Last weekend we held the South East and London regional finals, where another 10 lucky teams booked their spots at the Wembley grand final on Saturday 20th June. Among the qualifiers were year one Champions MDU who have qualified for the third year in a row!

You can check out some of the action from the London final here

If you would like to come to watch the competitions you can find directions to all the regional final venues here

Play will begin from 11:00, with team registrations open from 9:00. As well as the football there are activities to take part in with a chance to win UMBRO merchandise.

Next week we will draw the Lucky 8 winners, eight men’s teams will be picked at random from across the whole competition, one from each region plus one random team to play at Wembley.

Last weekend witnessed the start of this year’s FA Umbro Fives regional finals, with both the North West and North events taking place in Bury and Leeds respectively. The regional heats will continue to run over the next three weeks as the elite five-a-side teams from each region battle for their chance of glory, in the national finals at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 20th June.

Below is the footage of last weekend’s action at PlayFootball, Bury.

Umbro loves five-a-side with a huge portion of us playing regularly after work. Three years ago we realised that the only thing five-a-side lacked was the ultimate dream! Something big. Something we could all aspire to and could take us from a dodgy astroturf in the wilderness all the way to Wembley’s pristine pitch.

And it is that time again – the Country’s biggest and best Five a Side Tournament is back, bigger and better than ever.

Twenty-four men’s teams and eight women’s teams will earn the chance to play at Wembley where they can expect a day like no other with the England Bus, Dressing Rooms, New Umbro Kit, Wembley Tunnel, the Royal Box and most of all a chance to play on one of the World’s most famous pitches!

However, before the glory of the Wembley finals, we have over 200 local heats involving approximately 2000 teams…which we are still recruiting for!

HOW IT WORKS…

Local qualifying heats are still very much happening around the country and will continue through into May.

Each qualifying heat will send their top teams through to one of eight regional finals, which will be contested during May and June 2009:

Teams will battle it out during the regional finals for a place in the Wembley Finals event in the summer where 24 men’s teams and 8 women’s teams will compete for the FA UMBRO Fives title on the hallowed turf of Wembley!

FEAR NOT…

Even if you don’t fancy your team’s chances to win through you still have the chance to get to Wembley through the ‘Lucky Eights’ competition. We randomly select eight teams that were eliminated in their local qualifier and invite them to Wembley to contest their own tournament.

For regular news on who is winning (and losing) the qualifiers check out the news page.

For all other info including how to enter, check out the Fives Webpage.

Five-a-side is now bigger, in men’s participation numbers at least, than traditional 11-a-side football in the UK.

We know this to be true. We can’t show you in-depth statistical data or seven-year studies to prove this, no-one can. You can take my word for it though, it’s true nonetheless.

We know it’s true because five-a-side fits perfectly with our modern lifestyle. It’s quick, exciting, snack-size football, served up on a week night somewhere in between seeing your Gran and going sofa shopping! (Maybe that’s just me!)

It gives you that awesome football fix when and how you need it and more than 500,000 of us, along with our mates, turn out every week to get our latest installment. 

We’re just the same here at Umbro. We love five-a-side for exactly the same reasons as you and three years ago we realised that the only thing five-a-side lacked was the ultimate dream! Something big. Something we could all aspire to and could take us from a dodgy astroturf in the wilderness all the way to Wembley’s pristine pitch.

We wanted to know who were the best fives teams and then play against them. And so, with a little help from our friends, we made it happen and The FA UMBRO Fives was born.

Since then, more than 4,000 teams have taken part in the ultimate five-a-side challenge and, of which, around a hundred of the best have lived out their dream under that massive arch.

We think we’ve done something pretty special for five-a-side football and made what was already pretty much 99% perfect just that little bit better.

We’ve started recruiting for the 2009 UMBRO Fives so visit www.thefa.com/umbrofives to find your local heats (they’re happening pretty much everywhere in England) and make your own stories for the grandkids!