Guide
Spotting a football trial scam, and the free checks that settle it
Updated
The market for hope in youth football is large and the checks that protect a family are free, fast and rarely used. Here they are in the order worth running them.
Money asked for by an individual
Anybody describing themselves as an agent and requesting a fee from a family, before any transaction exists, is departing from the ordinary model in which agents are paid out of a deal.
The check is free and takes five minutes: search the exact name on The FA's register of registered football agents and on FIFA's directory of licensed agents. The FA also publishes agent transaction details, so involvement in actual deals is on the public record.
Pressure to decide today
Limited places, closing tonight, sign at the session. Urgency is the standard mechanism for preventing a check that would fail.
Nothing legitimate in this process requires a decision that cannot wait until the evening. Treat any pressure to sign or pay on the spot as a reason to leave and check.
Clubs named without confirmation
Scouts from professional clubs will be attending is a claim that can be verified in one phone call to the club, using a number from the club's own website.
Ask which clubs and which individuals, in writing. An organiser who cannot say has told you what is actually confirmed.
No safeguarding answer
For any event involving under-18s, ask who is supervising, what their qualifications are, and whether the event is affiliated. The FA publishes its safeguarding requirements and an unaffiliated event sits outside them.
An organiser who treats this as an odd question has answered it.
Contact that arrives out of nowhere
An unsolicited message about a young player, from somebody the family does not know and the club has not heard of, is where most of this begins.
Tell the current club or coach about any approach rather than keeping it separate. Approaches that require secrecy are the ones that cause harm, and a coach who has seen a hundred of these will recognise the shape immediately.
No verifiable trace
A real organiser has a history: previous events, a company, people who can be found. An operation with a new social account, stock photography and no traceable past is not a new business by accident.
None of these checks requires expertise. They require doing them before paying rather than afterwards, which is the only part that is genuinely difficult.