English Schools' Football Association

Trials to discover talent from across England take place from today

The search for the U18 England Schoolboys will begin this week when trials are held across the country from today (17 October). The trials are the first opportunity for the nominated players to impress selectors at each of the regional events. All the boys taking part have been nominated by their County to trial for International Duty, which in itself is an honour and speaks volumes for their playing ability both individually and as part of a team.

Full dates and venues of trials can be found below, and the successful players will progress to regional matches which are scheduled to take place on the 18 and 19 November. This next phase of the selection process will see players from a selected North squad play boys from the Midlands, with successful trialists from the South East playing against the South West.

The standards at trials have been notably high in recent years with a number of players progressing to play at higher levels of football. England star Chris Smalling, previously played in the ESFA Under 18 squad and went on to play for the men’s national team. Furthermore, in recent years there have been success stories such as Frank Arhin and Aidan Stone who made the Under 18 squad after last seasons’ trials. Arhin has since gone on to join Graham Potter’s Östersunds FK side that have risen to prominence in the last 6 years and are playing in the group stages of the Europa League and Stone was signed by Burnley FC as their U23 goalkeeper.

The ESFA are looking forward to welcoming all participants to this year’s trials and wish all the nominated boys the very best of luck in their footballing pursuits in the 2017-18 season.

Trial Details