Football Trials in London, Birmingham & Manchester
Football trials days and football events at Premier League and Championship grounds
Open football trial days are organised by FootballCV.com. Any member of FootballCV is welcome to book. Our members play in a match of their own age group and in attendance are scouts and managers from clubs from Premiership to Non-League level.
FootballCV member signs for Leeds United FC Academy New
Robert Black, 15 year old member of FootballCV has signed for Leeds United Academy in October 2012 following a FootballCV trials day in Sheffield. Read more
How To Book A Football Trials Day
To attend a football trials day, you must be a registered member of FootballCV.com. You can book by selecting an event below and booking online. The following events are all available to book online. Trials Days, Trial Evaluations and Trials Camps are for members only - please sign up to attend one of these events.
Forthcoming Trials Days
Behind The Scenes At A FootballCV.com Trials Day
What Happens At The Trials?
We have held trials days since July 2001 with much success. Scouts and managers from all over the UK and world-wide have attended the trials days with many members having been invited onto further trials at the clubs.
The first Trials day was held at Kettering Town FC. We agreed on five different age groups after discussion with several club scouts and managers. Over 18s, Under 18s, Under 16s, Under 14s and Under 12s. The interest from the players was phenomenal. We were overbooked in no time. The next thing was to alert Premier League, Football League and Non-League clubs to the Trials. Their response was positive and we were delighted to welcome representatives from over thirty clubs to the Trials. Sky Sports and GMTV sent their cameras along and featured the event the following morning on national television.
The clubs agreed the day had been a success and the formula for the day was about right.
You will play in a 45 minute game in your relevant age group. This gives the scouts ample time to assess each player and enabling them to make a decision as to whether they wanted to see more in the environment of their own clubs.
When you make a booking FootballCV.com will confirm it and will also ask you to sign and return a Terms and Conditions before participating in the trials. You will then receive all instructions, times and directions two weeks prior to the Trials Day.
You will also be notified of what to bring on the day ie boots, shin pads, towels, drinks although please note we supply all team kits.
It is important to point out FootballCV.com are not agents and receive nothing from clubs who take on players. Our job is to give the player the opportunity to perform on a stage in front of scouts and managers from clubs from all over the country. If they are offered the opportunity to go for further trials then we feel we have achieved what we set out to do. Believe me we get almost as much pleasure in ringing the parents to say a club is interested in your boy as the parents do themselves.
Since those early days in 2001 we feel we have come along leaps and bounds. We can now point to hundreds of players who have gone to clubs for further trials. And we have tried to raise the profile of the Trial Days by holding them on better grounds thereby giving players the opportunity to play on better surfaces. We have held Trials Days at the grounds of West Ham United, Leeds United, Charlton Athletic, Reading, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City, Falkirk, Tranmere Rovers, MK Dons, Peterborough United, Swindon Town, Northampton Town, Gateshead International Stadium, Sutton United, Kettering Town, Altrincham and Accrington Stanley are just a few of the grounds we have visited with Trial days.
On average we hold 25 events each year with new venues and dates announced on the website. See our success stories for proof of how successful our Trials Days have been.
How Much Do They Cost?
You must be a member of FootballCV.com to attend and pay the relevant booking fee (dependent on the venue). This is for the hire of the venue and the cost for the kits, match officials, coaches, ground staff, physios, administration costs and all other staff required to run such an event. Scouts and Managers attend free of charge as do guests of the members playing.
The fees are based on the costs of hiring the various stadiums. Obviously a Premiership ground will cost more than a non-league ground and that is why the fees vary. The fees also cover all the staff and administration costs.
All our Trials Days are on the first team pitches at the clubs we hire unless otherwise stated.
What People Are Saying
Many messages of thanks have been received from members and many kind comments made from football club representatives. See What the members say, What the clubs say and Media Talk for more quotes. As a result of our trials days many more players are being invited to trials with clubs. Word of mouth from scout to scout often finds places for our members in other areas of the country.
The Trials Day Players Panel
The success of FootballCV has been founded on it's ability to attract visiting scouts and managers to the Trial Days. We send out invitations to all Premiership and Football League clubs and Non-League clubs within the area. Many of them return their acceptances and these are the ones we release on the website. But we have no control on who turns up on the day or which age groups they are interested in.
We know from experience there are sometimes good players on view that are missed or who do not fit into the category the particular scouts are looking for.
With that in mind FootballCV.com has formed its own Players Panel. It consists of three former players, managers, referees or scouts whose job will be to pick out players of all ages who they feel they would be happy to recommend to clubs. Those clubs may be from the Premiership, Football League or Non-League.
Many clubs, particularly Non-League, just do not have the manpower to attend the Trial Days and we have spoken to several who say if we do the donkey work, and the players come recommended from an experienced source, they will be happy to give players further opportunities and possibly extended trials.
The Players Panel will be in attendance from start to finish and there will be one at every FootballCV Trial Day. The Panelists will vary according to which area of the country we are attending. We will always attempt to give you the name of the Panelists in advance of the Trial Day.
So far the panel has proved very worthwhile! The panel has been very well received by players and scouts and amongst others has included:
Terry Neill (former Arsenal Manager), Dave Hobson (Manchester United scout) John Bellinger (Chelsea scout), Dave Harrison (Leeds United Head of Recruitment), Peter Morris (Manchester City scout), Dick Bradshaw (Birmingham City scout), Frank Sharps (Stoke City scout), Jim Nichol (Newcastle United scout), Lil Fucillo (Newcastle United scout), Steve Hadjuk (Aston Villa scout), Steve Carpenter (Charlton Athletic scout), Nick Haycock (West Ham United), Stuart Glen (Stoke City), Dave Fairbrother (Nottingham Forest).
Please check Your Questions for more information.
