How Football Tryouts Work: Inside a 50-Player Session

A football tryout puts players into a match and lets coaches watch who stands out. At Palm City FC's tryout in Sarajevo on 23 and 24 June, 50 young players played 11v11 in front of coaches, and two were picked to train with the club in Dubai.

Fifty tried. Two were picked. That is the maths of a tryout, according to Buzzer's report of 26 June 2026.

How the session worked

Every player at the Sarajevo stop applied directly through the Buzzer app. The coaches watched the matches and evaluated each player. Buzzer's report does not name the coaches, but the tour page says the matches were played in front of licensed professional coaches.

Palm City FC's founder, Soheil Var, watched the matches in Sarajevo and took part in the final selection, Buzzer reported.

The format is the part worth noticing. Eleven against eleven is a real match, so players are not asked to run drills in a line. They are asked to play, and a coach can see how someone moves, passes and reacts when the game is going against them.

How applications worked

Applications were handled only through the Buzzer app. The tour page gave the steps: download Buzzer, create a player profile, search for Palm City FC, open the tryout section and submit. It also said there were no middlemen or agency fees.

Each country session was capped at 50 players. So the first step was not a trial at all. It was a place in the 50.

The tour page does not state any age requirements or formal eligibility criteria, which is worth knowing if you are thinking of applying to a future one.

Who was picked

Two players made it. One was a left winger from Prijedor, noted for dribbling and speed. The other was a central defensive midfielder from Ključ, noted for technical ability and vision. Different positions, different strengths.

In August, both were set to fly to Dubai with their expenses covered, Buzzer reported. The plan was to train with the Palm City FC team, use its facilities and coaching, and, if they impress, a professional contract could follow.

The tour behind it

Sarajevo was one stop on a larger tour. Palm City planned tryouts in eight European countries. Confirmed dates were Munich on 15 June, Amsterdam on 19 June and Sarajevo on 23 and 24 June. Spain, Croatia, Norway, Portugal and Italy were also on the tour, with dates to be announced at the time the page was published.

The tour page described Buzzer as the General Sponsor and the official platform running the talent discovery process. The rule across the tour was the same: at least one player from each country would win a fully covered trip to Dubai in August, and standout performers could earn one too.

What a tryout can and cannot tell you

A tryout is a short look at a player. Two days is not long, and the judgement is only as good as the matches played in it. It can tell a club how a player performs on a particular day.

It cannot show how a player has developed over a season, how he plays in a different position, or what he did last month. That information lives somewhere else.

Var, who had two million followers and was once signed by Gulf United in Dubai, then released, announced he would build a football club from scratch in 365 days. He is the figure leading the tour.

Where a profile comes in

Buzzer handled registration, player profiles and scouting on its platform. If you want to be seen before the next tryout, Buzzer's Athlete Badge gives a player a verified profile with footage and stats, visible to more than 500 connected clubs and scouts. Read the full Sarajevo tryout report, or see the tour announcement.

The coaches had two days. A profile has the rest of the year*.*