Non-League and Academy football writer

On the 4G pitch at Donkey Lane (Enfield) on Sunday evening (kick-off is at 6pm), Enfield based Herts County League side, OIR FC, will face FC Olympia, of Birmingham, in a really interesting semi-final first leg of the SBCL. This important Somali British Champions League fixture, sees 2024 winners, OIR, take on an Olympia side who reached last season’s final in Bristol, where they narrowly lost to last season’s winners, Hilltop FC.

OIR were unbeaten in group A, as the second place side in the group. Olympia also finished in second place in their group, and in the 2025 final of the SBCL, I thought that they gave a really good account of themselves, playing their football well as a team. I have seen three of OIR’s four matches so far in this season’s SBCL, and they are a team who I have seen many times in the past, in non-League football. Like FC Olympia they are a very good footballing side, who have a lot of goals to their game. And as I said in my review of the competition so far, it’s very difficult to predict both semi-final ties (the other tie is between Hilltop and Newmont), which makes it a very interesting competition.

Sunday’s first leg will be highly competitive, and one in which I’m looking forward to covering on my blog on the day.