Why Football Trials Mean Less Than You Think

By Alan Deriard
Football Agent | Elite Football

Short Summary

Football trials matter, but not in the way most players and parents think they do. A trial can show performance on a day, but it cannot fully predict who will thrive long term overseas. Real outcomes depend on fit, environment, adaptation, and what clubs actually need. That is why some top performers do not get selected, while other players who scored lower can still go overseas and flourish.

Why I Needed to Say This

I want this one to be a bit more candid.

We recently posted the selected sponsored players from our last events, and my phone and my team’s phones got blown up. A lot of the messages were not the kind I enjoy reading.

Some players were upset.
Some parents were confused.
Some people genuinely felt like they had been robbed.

So I want to explain something properly.

The truth is these events do not matter as much as most people think they do.

I know that sounds controversial, especially coming from me. This is my business. These are my events. On paper, it probably does not benefit me to say that out loud.

But I have always built this company around honesty, and that is not changing now.

How Selections Actually Work

When we run an event at Elite Football, there are three layers to the selection process.

1. Event performance

The first layer is obvious.

How did you perform on the day?

We look at things like:

• how you moved
• your decision-making
• your intensity
• your coachability
• your technical execution
• how you handled pressure

That part matters.

2. Club and staff voting

The second layer is the clubs we bring and the EFA staff voting based on those performances.

We sit down.
We debate.
We compare notes.
We argue over players.

That process is serious, and it is designed to reduce error as much as possible.

3. What clubs actually need right now

This is the part no one thinks about, and it changes everything.

After our internal decisions, clubs sometimes reach out asking specifically for certain players they saw because they need those profiles immediately.

Maybe a left back got injured.
Maybe they need a centre back.
Maybe they saw a player who fits their structure perfectly.

If that happens, that player gets priority.

Why?

Because the probability of signing them is higher.

And that is my job.

I am not here to play fantasy football. I am here to give players the best real chance possible.

Why Better Performers Do Not Always Get Picked

This is where people start feeling robbed.

And I understand it.

There were players at our last events who performed better than some of the players who got selected.

That is just a fact.

But once you get down to a top 10, then down again to three players, things become tighter. It is majority voting. It is context. It is club need. It is fit. It is probability.

That is why selections are never as simple as “just pick the best three players.”

Football does not work like that.

The Numbers From Our Last Event

Let me give you some actual context.

At our last event:

• around 10 players scored 9 out of 10
• no one scored 10 out of 10
• around 50 players scored 7 or higher
• around 150 players scored 6 or lower

We score players against a European standard.

A 10 means they would basically sign instantly with a high-level under-19 or first-division youth setup.

A 1 means, bluntly, maybe football is not the sport for them.

So yes, if you look at the numbers, you might say:

“Why not just work with the top 50?”

And that is fair.

In many cases, we do offer pathways, development, or trials to players we rate highly.

But sponsorship selection is narrower than that. It has to account for performance, fit, and real probability.

The Story That Proves Trials Are Not Everything

Here is where it gets crazy.

I currently have a player overseas who scored 6 out of 10 at one of our last events.

Not terrible. Slightly above average. But still, a six.

One of the Spanish coaches who flew in saw him live at the event and agreed with that score. He thought the player needed development.

So that player went overseas with development as the focus.

Then I got a message after his first month.

The club had officially registered him to compete in their under-19 squad for the rest of his trial because they wanted to see more of him.

Think about that for a second.

The same coach who saw him live, rated him a six, and thought he needed work, then watched him overseas and decided he was smashing it enough to be registered at a first-division professional Spanish club.

That is ridiculous.

And that is exactly my point.

I do not have a crystal ball. No one does.

How could I possibly know that the same player who looked average over two days at an event would go overseas and flourish in a proper environment?

You cannot know.

What Actually Matters

At a certain point, this becomes a numbers game.

What changes players is not one trial score.

It is:

• exposure
• environment
• time
• adaptation
• structure

That is what shifts outcomes.

How a player performs overseas at the club is what really matters.

Nothing else matters as much as that.

A player who scores a nine at an event might go overseas and fall apart. He might miss home, miss his girlfriend, miss his dog, and mentally crumble.

A player who scores a six might go overseas and thrive.

That is football.

There are too many human variables for any trial, anywhere in the world, to perfectly predict long-term outcomes.

Why Trials Are Limited by Nature

Trials do mean something.

But they do not mean everything.

A trial is short.
A trial is controlled.
A trial is unnatural.

It is not real life.

Real development happens in the right environment over time.

Sometimes players who look average in a trial grow massively in structure.

Sometimes players who dominate a short trial struggle the moment they enter a real football environment.

That is why no trial will ever perfectly select who makes it long term.

Even the Best Players Can Miss Out

And this part matters too.

Some parents think I should just pick the best players from the event and leave it at that.

But even that is more complicated than people think.

At our Melbourne trials, in my opinion, the two best players there were Luke and Orlando.

Personally, I think they were better than everyone else I saw.

But they did not perform to their usual level on the day.

And here is the important part:

It is not just me deciding.

It is my staff.
It is the Spanish coaches.
It is the full voting process.

So no one gets automatic selection. No one gets protected. No one gets favours.

That means some excellent players miss out if they do not perform when it counts.

It goes both ways.

No One Gets Sponsored Because They Paid

I want to address another thing directly because one parent especially pushed this point.

Some people seem to think players need to already be in our paid representation system to be selected for sponsorship.

That is false.

Out of the five players we sponsored, only one was already in our player rep system.

One.

That should tell you everything you need to know.

We do not reward the people who pay us most.
We do not reward the people we like more.
We reward performance, fit, and probability.

That is it.

Why We Build Systems, Not Moments

At a certain point, my job is not to obsess over one moment.

It is to obsess over systems.

I obsess over:

• improvement
• exposure
• structure
• standards
• environment
• probability

That is how you raise outcomes long term.

That is why we keep building around players, not just evaluating them for one weekend and pretending we know their future.

The Standards We Bring to Everything

Even on small things, this is how we operate.

We recently developed our own EFA grip socks.

Why?

Because I saw our players wearing average gear, random brands, and complaining about quality.

So we fixed it.

That is the point.

If we move fast and obsessively over something as small as socks, imagine how seriously we take:

• overseas negotiations
• trial structures
• registrations
• contracts
• pathway positioning
• club relationships

That is the mindset behind this company.

Why I Am So Confident in What We Built

I am going to be real here.

Everyone else in this industry wants to copy what we do.

They copy ads.
They copy events.
They copy funnels.
They copy pricing.
They copy surface-level strategy.

That does not bother me.

Because no one can copy the years of obsession underneath it.

You can copy a landing page.
You cannot copy the relationships.
You cannot copy the standards.
You cannot copy the culture.
You cannot copy the infrastructure.
You cannot copy the reps.

That is the difference.

And I say that because I want players to think the same way about themselves.

You should aim to become so good, so confident, and so solid in your standards that people want to copy you too.

What I Need Players and Parents to Understand

If you did not get selected, it does not mean you are not good enough.

It does not mean you will not go overseas.

It means that on that day, in that environment, under that context, the probability was not high enough.

That is it.

Football is not fair.
It is not linear.
And it is definitely not predictable.

So if you got honest feedback from me or my team, take it on the chin and go again.

Because honest feedback matters more than comfort.

One Last Thing About Behaviour

I will end with this.

If you were one of the players or parents who messaged us angry because you did not get sponsored, that behaviour itself says a lot.

The first thing you should do when other players get selected is congratulate them.

Then, if you have questions, ask respectfully.

But if your first instinct is to complain, attack, or make it about yourself, that tells me a lot about your maturity and leadership.

And that matters in football too.

Final Thoughts

Football trials do matter.

But they do not matter the way most people think.

They are one data point.
One moment.
One environment.
One snapshot.

What matters more is what happens after that.

How players adapt.
How they respond to feedback.
How they handle structure.
How they perform overseas.
How they grow inside the right system.

That is why we build systems instead of relying on moments.

Because that is where real outcomes come from.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do football trials matter?

Yes, football trials matter, but they are only one part of the picture. A trial can show how a player performs on a specific day, but it does not perfectly predict who will succeed long term.

Why do some better-performing players miss out on sponsorships?

Because sponsorship decisions are not based only on event performance. They also depend on voting, club needs, positional fit, and the probability of a player actually signing.

Can a player with a lower event score still succeed overseas?

Yes. Some players who score lower at events go overseas and flourish in structured environments. Adaptation, mentality, and the right club fit can change everything.

Why do clubs sometimes prioritise a specific player?

Clubs often have immediate needs. If they need a certain position or profile and see a player who fits that structure, that player may get priority even if someone else performed better overall.

Does paying for representation improve a player’s chances of sponsorship?

No. Sponsorship decisions are not based on who is already paying for services. They are based on performance, fit, and probability.

What matters more than a football trial?

What matters most is how a player performs in the real overseas environment over time. Exposure, adaptation, development, and the right structure matter more than one controlled trial.

Author: Alan Deriard
Football Agent | Elite Football
Website: https://elitefootball.com.au