TV crews captured St Albans schoolgirls representing Arsenal in a tournament at Goodison Park.

They met Match of the Day presenter Mark Wright, saw inside the Everton club dressing room, and had a picture with the real Premier League trophy.

They could stand next to the cup, but not touch it.

To get to the final of the Under 13s Premier League Schools Tournament, the girls beat 30 other teams from across London in four separate groups.

The tournament included 14,000 players from 1,700 schools, overseen by six premier league referees.

The young footballers from STAGs played four games, winning or drawing all of them, ending up second on the leader board.

The team representing Newcastle managed to finish one point above the Arsenal girls.

Travel and hotel costs of their one night stay in Liverpool were all expenses paid.

The chosen players were Captain Lily Dixon, Laura Gifford, Rosie Makamian, Anouk Denton, Jessica Simpson, Amelie Millar, Nicole Lang and Grace Moule.

Anouk, a regular player for Arsenal Under 13 team, said: “The cup was very big, much larger than it appears on TV.”

Jessica said: “It was such an amazing experience and a real honour to play at the Everton stadium.”