SOME of the area’s top footballers are pulling off their fancy flicks, tricks and scoring lots of goals at the Bolton Arena every Saturday morning.

Each week, more than 43 teams turn up resplendent in their football kits and who knows, in years could be turning out across the road at the Reebok Stadium.

Michael Worthington, under-7s representative of the Bolton, Bury and District Football League, said: “It is great to see so many of the kids enjoying it.

“Some clubs have registered an interest in creating a third or fourth team to play there because of our success.

“The players get 20 minutes of action each week and we try to swap the teams around so they don’t play each other all the time and give them variety.

“No results or tables are ever published and the most important thing is that the kids are enjoying their football and have fun.

“When I was younger, we used to play 11v11 at this age-group but now it is far better when they are five versus five.

“It allows the kids to develop their skills and the positive thing is they are improving and passing a lot.”

Apart from the kids enjoying the game, Michael says he has been getting positive reports from parents.

He said: “One of the mums was talking at the game and told me they enjoyed how it was non-competitive.

“If they can enjoy their football at this age then the chances are they might want to stay in the game and they may listen to their coaches more.

“We are seeing that a lot of the teams like to get the ball down and pass it and also show some of their talent.

“It is still early to say but these young players could be the future Christiano Ronaldos.

“You can see that some of them have a special talent but the main thing we notice is that they play well one season and the next year they come back better.

“They will have improved their movement or technique.”