Trial
A trial is a temporary period in which a club evaluates a player who is not registered with it.
The definition is short because a trial is deliberately outside the registration machinery. The player is not registered with the club, which is exactly what distinguishes a trial from a very short signing.
One rule protects the arrangement. Associations are forbidden from requesting an international transfer certificate in order to let a player take part in friendly matches in the context of a trial. Without that, an association could make a trial impossible simply by declining to process paperwork it was never meant to need.
What the regulations do not do is address the commercial side. A trial is not a contract, an unregistered player is not covered by one, and none of the protections that attach to a registered professional are in place. Anything the player is promised during it lives or dies on what was written down.
Worked example
A player travels for a two-week trial on the understanding that a contract follows if it goes well.
It goes well and no contract follows. There was no registration, no contract and no mandate covering the trip. Whether the player has anything at all depends entirely on what was agreed in writing before they got on the plane.
Related terms
- International transfer certificateAn international transfer certificate is the document the player’s former association sends to the new one, without which the new association cannot register the player at all.
- Registration periodA registration period, known everywhere as the transfer window, is one of the two annual periods fixed by each association during which players may be registered with a new club.
- Representation agreementA representation agreement is the written contract a football agent must have in place with a client before performing any agent services for them.