What happens after a soccer tryout is the part almost nobody explains. At SportsMate360 the answer is short. Every player is placed into one of three levels, and that placement is not decided on the pitch that morning.
It is decided twice. Once by the staff watching you during the session. Once again afterwards, when the coaches sit down with the game footage.
Players placed in Level 1 or Level 2 receive a scholarship to the Pro Program.
That is the whole mechanism. The Miami tryout at Charles Hadley Park ran on exactly this basis on Saturday, 8 August. The rest of this article is why each step exists, and what that scholarship actually opens.
The whistle ends the session, not the assessment
Our tryout page states it plainly. Players are placed into one of three categories: Level 1, 2 and 3. That placement rests on assessments by our staff during the tryouts, and on our coaches’ review of the game footage.
Read that second half again. The footage review is not an afterthought. It is half of the decision.
There is a reason for it. A tryout runs three hours. In that window a coach on the touchline follows the ball.
Film sees everything the ball is not doing.
Film shows where you stood when play was on the far side. It shows the ten seconds after you lost possession. It shows whether you were still making runs at minute eighty, with your legs gone and nobody watching.
Those are the habits that separate a player who trains well from one a club can trust on a Saturday. We have written before about what clubs actually test once you are inside the building, and it is the same list.
So if you walked off the pitch in Miami without a verdict, nothing went wrong. The verdict was never going to be handed out on the grass.
Why the level is a funding decision, not a grade
Three levels sounds like a report card. It is not.
Players placed in Level 1 or Level 2 also receive a scholarship to the SportsMate360 Pro Program. That single sentence turns an assessment into money.
Level 1 and Level 2 do not simply earn a better note in a file. They earn funded access to a development track that other players join by paying for it.
That is exactly why the assessment is built the way it is. When a placement carries a scholarship, it has to survive a second look on film.
What the scholarship actually opens
The Pro Program runs in three lengths: three months, six months or ten months. Everything sits on one campus in Poland, which matters more than it sounds when you are sixteen and eight thousand kilometres from home.
- Living – hotel accommodation to European standard, full board, gym, spa and recovery in the same place you train.
- Training – individual football training, tactics lessons and match analysis sessions. The longer programs add mental coaching and individual performance reports. The full season adds a language course and a physiotherapy course.
- Being seen – scouting matches against professional youth teams, played in front of scouts from European clubs.
- Trials – the chance to try out at clubs in Poland, plus monthly evaluations run by an Ekstraklasa scout.
- Representation – an agency network working across Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, the USA, India, China and Saudi Arabia.
That last point is the one players underrate. Getting good is one problem. Being placed in front of the right people is a different problem, and training harder does not solve it.
You can read the full program breakdown here.
Who is on the other side of the assessment
A grading system is only worth as much as the people running it. SportsMate360 is built around UEFA-A licence coaches and certified UEFA player agents.
It is worth knowing what that licence actually is, because the name gets used loosely in youth football.
The UEFA A licence is not an entry-level badge. A coach has to hold the UEFA B licence first, and have real experience in eleven-a-side football, before starting it.
Once held, it authorises the coach to lead:
- youth teams up to under-18 level
- the reserve team of a top-division club
- a men’s professional club in the second tier
The licence stays valid for three years. Then it has to be renewed.
Read that back in plain terms. The people reviewing your footage are licensed to run a professional second-division squad. That is the standard your session is measured against, not a local benchmark.
How the work is split
Coaching, scouting and representation are three separate jobs here, and three separate people do them.
- Jan Nawrath – Head of Sports
- Karol Gorski – Head Coach
- Saurabh Singh – Head of Scouting
Behind them sits more than twenty years of experience in professional football. An Ekstraklasa scout runs end-of-month evaluations on every player in the program.
You do not need to be born in Europe
Almost every player who reaches us starts with the same belief: the pathway into European football belongs to people who grew up inside it.
The record says otherwise.
Those players arrived from India, from across Africa, from the United States and from the Caribbean. None of them were born into the European system. All of them entered it the same way: an assessment, a placement, a program, then matches in front of people who sign players.
In July we brought a full Antigua and Barbuda squad through four fixtures in Poland on that exact logic. Every player in that group left with ninety minutes of competitive footage in front of European clubs.
If you were not in Miami
A tryout is one entry point. It is not the only one.
The Pro Program takes players aged 13 to 25 through a direct application, with no tryout date to wait for. The first step is a conversation, not a plane ticket.
What that conversation covers is simple: where your game is right now, which program length fits it, and what a realistic route to a European trial looks like. If the honest answer is that you are not ready yet, you will be told that as well.
We have written about what real preparation looks like, and it is measured in months, not in one good weekend.
Key takeaways
- Placement into Level 1, 2 or 3 needs both the staff assessment and the footage review. It is not announced on the day of the tryout.
- Level 1 and Level 2 come with a scholarship to the Pro Program. The level is a funding decision, not a grade.
- The Pro Program runs 3, 6 or 10 months on one campus, with scouting matches, club trials in Poland and monthly evaluations by an Ekstraklasa scout.
- The assessment is run by UEFA-A licence coaches, a qualification that authorises its holder to lead a professional second-tier squad.
- You do not need a tryout to start. The Pro Program accepts direct applications from players aged 13 to 25.
Frequently asked questions
When do I find out my level after a tryout?
After the coaching staff has completed the footage review. Placement combines what our staff saw on the day with what the coaches see in the film. It is not announced at the end of the session. If you attended the Miami tryout and want a status update, contact us and we will tell you where your assessment stands.
What is the difference between Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3?
The practical difference is the scholarship. Players placed in Level 1 or Level 2 receive a scholarship to join the Pro Program. Level 3 players get a clear picture of where their game sits and what would have to change.
Do I have to attend a tryout to join the Pro Program?
No. The tryout is one route in. Players also apply directly through the program, which is how most of our international players arrive.
How old do I have to be?
Our tryouts and the Pro Program are open to players aged 13 to 25.
Where does the Pro Program take place?
In Poland, on a single campus that holds accommodation, training facilities and recovery in one place. Showcase and scouting matches are played against Polish professional youth teams, with European club scouts in attendance.
The assessment is open all year
You do not need to wait for the next tryout in your city. Tell us where your game is now. We will tell you honestly what the route to a European trial looks like from there.
Live like a Pro. Train like a Pro. Play like a Pro.
