Football club

[Marina80]

My son get in to football. club academy last year. Signed club contract to play matches. The coach said that time that ,yes,he can join club. For whole year I paid all the money ,believed that he will be in the in club for long. This year trainee give everybody,even newly boys to sign contract for this year,but not to my son. He explained that he is not ready to play matches,needs more trained,practice. He new that from last year and still allowed to sign ,so he should say that he nit ready yet,instead to take moneyy for him. I paid last year for my son for nothing,so he out of matches and no more contract this year. Is that what they do,is it permitted to take payments wherever they wants and decide next that he is not good enough yet. I paid money him to trained my son. Is it fair? Could I complain or not?

This is usual in football clubs ... they review every year the performance of the boys and either move them down/up or put them on training contracts only (ie no matches).

In the main it is extremely competitive and difficult to find a club that is for enjoyment only.

Is it a youth academy of a professional team?

If, so its entirely standard. Children are offered placesfor a season at a time and are continually assessed. They can be dropped at a moment's notice.

I'm afraid football academy can be very brutal and cut-throat even for primary aged kids.

Find your son a nice grass roots club. You'll still be paying a monthly membership fee, but he'll be enjoying the football more and they'll let him develop at his own pace!

In my experience, you don't pay to belong to an actual academy. You might pay for a development centre or similar which is attached to a professional club? In this case another local club will probably take him on the same basis or as a previous poster has said, join a grassroots team. Generally a nicer environment to play in. My DS is at a professional academy - players are dropped at all ages and anything you are told informally/ verbally you should treat as unreliable.

What type of club is it? Is it an actual professional club academy??