Hamberg: We know the importance of FA Youth Cup

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Albion progressed to the fifth round with a victory over QPR on Tuesday.

Luke Nicoli

2026-01-28T11:45+00:00

MU18s head coach Bjorn Hamberg is returning to Sweden as head coach of Elfsborg. 📷Simon Roe

Bjorn Hamberg was delighted to have some of the club’s U21s to call on as they progressed to the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup.

Harry Howell, Freddie Simmonds and Tyler Silsby – all regulars for the U21s this season – played in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over QPR and while this meant changes to the starting line-up it was a welcome challenge for Hamberg.

“While there are always difficult decisions to be made, I feel lucky that with the club’s support we are able to play somebody like Harry for this game,” he added. “Our first team and U21 coaches see the value of this competition for the boys.

“This was our fourth game since Christmas and we’ve had four different playing squads depending on the competition and the circumstances around us. But most of the bigger clubs have this same challenge, so we embrace it and we go into every game with the same mindset, whoever is playing.”

Our under-18s players and staff celebrate after beating QPR. 📷Simon Roe

Albion will face either West Bromwich Albion or Sunderland, who meet on Thursday, and having also beaten Tottenham Hotspur 5-2 the focus for Hamberg is to go deep in this prestigious competition.

“We know that whoever we face, it will be a good team, so you have to play them all as if it’s the final,” he revealed. “That’s what we did against QPR and against Spurs.

“I didn’t know about this tournament until I moved here, but we speak about it a lot and it’s an amazing opportunity to go up against the best players in the age group.

“You will know about all these stories [of famous players having featured in the competition], but we need to make our own story – we need to make that journey ourselves.

“Spurs was a massive win for us, but if we’d lost against QPR nobody would remember it. We need to make sure that we remember all the wins.”