Applications are now open for this year’s JD Club NI trials which will be taking place during April and May.
Preliminary trials will be held on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April with secondary trials held on Saturday 4 May. The final stage will be held at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park on Friday 10 May.
JD Club NI, the Irish Football Association's elite player development programme, is inviting any boys born in 2006 and 2007 who think they have what it takes to play for Northern Ireland to register for the trials via the JD IFA App or online. Registration will close at midnight on Tuesday 23rd April.
You can download the App using the following links:
Apple Store: https://apple.co/2VAVU31
Android Store: http://bit.ly/2VyUQfW
Please read the FAQs below for further information:
Q. When are the various rounds of this year's trials?
Round 1: Friday 27 and Saturday 29
Round 2: Friday 3 and Saturday 4 May
Final Trials: Invitation only: Friday 10 May
Q. What are the addresses of the venues?
Queen’s Sports, Malone Sports Facilities, Dub Lane, Belfast, BT9 5NB tbc
Mid Ulster Sports Arena, Tullywiggan Road, Cookstown, BT80 8SD tbc
National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, BT12 6LU. NB Entry is via Boucher Road and Olympia Leisure Centre entrance.
Q. How do I know which trial to attend?
We will invite you to a preliminary trial at one of the venues based on numbers, geography and coaches. It is important that you attend the trial you are invited to so please read any correspondence carefully.
Q. I can’t attend on those dates – can I attend another day?
Unfortunately we will not be able to facilitate trials on other dates.
Q. When will players know if they have been selected to get through to the next round?
We will inform those players that are successfully through to the next round via email by midnight on Tuesday 7 May. Only those successful will receive an email. If you do not receive an email unfortunately you will have been unsuccessful.
Q. Will players be provided with feedback?
Unfortunately it is not possible to provide individual feedback to all the trialists due to the large numbers involved, though we would encourage all players to continue working hard in their clubs.
Q. What are the coaches looking for?
The JD Club NI coaches will be assessing the potential of players against the standards required to be in JD Club NI. It is important to be aware that the JD Club NI squad only includes 25 players at your age group across all of Northern Ireland so we would encourage players not to be disappointed if you don’t get selected this time and to keep on working at and enjoying your football.
Q. How will the coaches select the players?
All the coaching staff involved in the trials process are highly qualified and experienced coaches and are used to working on talent identification of players. The coaches will be considering the trialists in line with the standard of players in JD Club NI.
During the trials process the coaches will quickly get to know the players and will quietly record the names of any players they would like to recommend for further monitoring. At the end of the trials day the coaches will work together to identify a small number of trialists to progress to the next round.
Q. Why aren’t girls being trialled this year?
The trials are organised for the Club NI system for boys, which JD sponsors. The Girls' Excellence Programme is sponsored by the Irish Football Association's women’s football partner, Electric Ireland.
Q. How do I contact the JD trials?
Once registered you will receive all information about your trial so please do wait for this as it will provide full details. Please note due to the large number of trialists we would ask participants not to send individual enquires as full details will be provided to the email address you submit on application.
