Closing the first season of the Senior Challenge Cup Final post-Covid, Leamington FC will look to keep their hands on the trophy they secured back in 2019 when they meet Stourbridge FC for one of the showpiece matches in Birmingham County FA’s calendar on Wednesday 4 May.

The Final is to be played at Villa Park, the home of Premier League outfit Aston Villa, with the game kicking off at 7.30pm. First contested in 1876/77, the game is the 135^th Birmingham Senior Cup Final, and the 15^th to be staged at Villa Park with the last outing here in 1995. This year’s finalists are the last two winners of the Senior Cup, The Glassboys having won it in 2018, and The Brakes in 2019.

Leamington FC, known popularly as the Brakes, have lifted the Senior Challenge Cup on seven occasions, with the most recent coming in 2019 when they beat Nuneaton Borough 4-1. Alongside their victories, the club have also managed to reach the Final on a further six occasions, totalling thirteen appearances in all, making this their fourteenth.

Meanwhile, Stourbridge possess plenty of their own glory in the competition. First entering in the 1881/82 season, the Glassboys have lifted the Senior Challenge Cup on four occasions and featured a further nine times as runners up. Sporadically 1950, 1959, 1968 and 2018 are the winning years etched in the club’s history.

In their 2021/22 route to the final, Leamington started the campaign with a bye into the second round where they met West Bromwich Albion FC and dispatched them with a 3-1 victory. Their quarter-final result was a carbon copy as they notched a 3-1 success over Tamworth FC before meeting Burton Albion FC in the semi-final who they edged past with a slim 1-0 victory to take their place in this year’s final.

Meanwhile, Stourbridge’s campaign started with a convincing 4-1 win against Tividale FC in the first round seeing them through to meet Aston Villa FC in the second round who they narrowly beat 2-1. In the quarter-final, they secured their first clean sheet by putting 3 goals past Hednesford Town FC without return to put them into the semi-final draw. Here they repeated their success with a 3-0 triumph against Alvechurch FC to take on the current holders in the final.

Spectators at Villa Park will be hoping for a spectacular game of football as both teams battle it out to take the trophy home to their respective towns.

Further Details:

Admission - £10 Adults | £5 Concessions | FREE U12

Tickets available to purchase online ONLY. You can purchase here.

Programme

 Available digitally here

You can also access the programme on the night when visiting Villa Park by scanning a QR code.

Match Officials

Referee – Tom Reeves

Assistant Referee – Jamie Lunn

Assistant Referee – Jake Allsopp

Fourth Official – Ashley Clarke

Coverage

The game will be covered by various media outlets including BBC CWR, Black Country Radio, Non-League Volunteers, Express and Star, VAVEL.com, Non-League Paper and NL Full-Time Podcast and both Leamington and Stourbridge will be covering the game on their social media channels. Birmingham County FA will also be providing live-text commentary on their Twitter channel @BirminghamFA.