Hello, My name is Dustyn Brim and I am a goalkeeper. I live the United States and have some questions that I hope you can help me with. I am 19, 09/22/83, I live in California but am hoping to move to England at the beginning of summer in hopes and aspirations of playing football (soccer to me). I am not sure how to go about this or even where to begin. I don't know if you guys or any of the clubs have camps or open try-outs, and if so how would I find out about them? Are there rules and regulations on me playing in England? Do I need to get a work visa or something similar? I really appreciate any help that you could give. Thank you again. Dustyn Brim
I wish I could help, but unfortunately, I can't. Just out of curiousity, what division are you looking into playing in? What part of England and what teams are you looking to get a try-out if possible with?
Dustyn, The Yanks Abroad forum is probably the best place to post this stuff. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it England can be a difficult proposition because of the work permit issue. Essentially, non-EU players must either be fixtures on their national team or regulars on their club (which of course doesn't apply if you don't already play for a club there) in order to qualify/maintain a permit. If you have someone from Europe in your immediate family (within two generations, I think) you may qualify for an EU passport, which would allow you to live and work freely over there. You could also marry a European girl! There are worse fates for a man... Other European countries have more liberal policies so you may want to cast your net more widely at the start. As to the playing side, try some networking -- do you have any coaches or former coaches or friends who know people in the game who could at least write you a letter of introduction/recommendation to a club? That could at least get your foot in the door and perhaps once there your reference could point you toward what he felt would be a club at an appropriate level. Best of luck and keep us posted!
http://keeperzone.fifaspot.com/forums/ there are lots of english members here, not to mention former pro's that might be able to guide you in the right direction
yeah, just confirming what dave said is correct.. If you can maintain a placement here, then you can send videotapes of yourself to various clubs (depending on how good you are ofcourse) and they may give you a trial! You would have to do a lot of posting though. If you think you are only at amateur level (still can be a suprisingly high standard), then you get adverts in papers with teams asking for players, but the best thing to do is go along to your local football teams training or something like that, and maybe get scouted when you start getting into the team! goodluck if you decide to come to england!