Home / Programmes / Trial by Fire
Test the waters before you commit three years.
Trial by Fire is for families serious about Europe long term who want evidence before they decide. It is not a group programme. Your family travels on your dates, Xdrona arranges two to three trials at partner academies, and handles everything around them — academy days, accommodation, transport, a chaperone who speaks the language, school visits for under-18s. You come home with written feedback from each academy and a clear answer.
- 2–3 trials
- Partner academies in the Valencia and Alicante region
- 7–12 days
- Built around your family's calendar
- One family
- Player, parent, and a sibling if you like
- Fully arranged
- You travel; Xdrona runs everything on the ground
For players aged 12 to 17 (18+ on request) whose families are weighing a long-term move to Europe. If you only want exposure, the Exposure Trip is the cheaper way to get it. If you are deciding on three years, this is the trip.
Plan your family's trip
Share your player's details and our team will get back to you to plan a trip around your player and your dates.
Book a sessionThe discovery call is free. No payment is taken on this page.
Questions first? info@xdrona.com
What happens
A trip built around your player.
What Xdrona handles
Everything except the flight.
- Trial arrangement and confirmation with two to three partner academies
- Itinerary, day by day, sent before you fly
- Accommodation booking near the academies
- Airport pickup and all local transport
- A chaperone who speaks Spanish and English, with you at every session
- School visits and residence-route explanation for under-18s
- Footage from the trial sessions
- Written feedback from each academy and an Xdrona report
You arrange
- —Flights and visa (we provide the invitation letters and a checklist)
- —Travel insurance
- —Personal spending
The honest part
What a trial can and can't tell you.
A trial tells an academy whether they want to see more of the player, and tells the family what the level looks like up close. It cannot get an under-18 non-EU player a licence to play official league matches: FIFA Article 19 stops that regardless of how the trial goes. What it can lead to is an academy place for the following season, with the school and residence route that makes it legal — and that is exactly the decision this trip is designed to inform.
We do not tell you whether your player is ready. The academies do, in writing, after they have seen them. If you want Xdrona's opinion before you travel, that is the paid consultation.
Why one family at a time
Because it is your decision.
- Trials matched to the player's position and level, not to a group's average
- Your dates, not a cohort's
- Parents see the academy, the school and the neighbourhood — which no group camp shows you
- Feedback is about your player alone
- If an academy says yes, the conversation about next season starts while you are still there
Pricing
Custom, because every trip is. Xdrona's fee covers arrangement, chaperone, itinerary, feedback and report; accommodation and local transport are booked by us and billed at cost. You get one written quote before anything is confirmed.
How to book
Six steps. Nothing paid until the trip is confirmed.
Every Xdrona programme starts with a free discovery call. For Trial by Fire it is followed by a planning call, because the trip has to be designed before it can be quoted.
Book a session- 1
Create a free account in the app at football.xdrona.com. No assessment is needed for this programme.
- 2
Free discovery call with a certified FIFA agent: how the trip works, what's included, costs, visa and timing. Not an assessment of your player.
- 3
Planning call and academy matching. We take the player's position, age, level and your dates; you receive an itinerary and one written quote.
- 4
Confirm and pay the deposit. Academies are confirmed, accommodation booked, and invitation letters issued for the visa.
- 5
Travel and trial. Your family flies on your dates, with a Spanish-speaking chaperone at every session.
- 6
Decide. Written feedback from each academy and Xdrona's report within a week of your return.
Questions parents ask
Before you plan the trip.
How is this different from the Exposure Trip?+
The Exposure Trip is a group of players training inside one academy for two weeks and playing a tournament. Trial by Fire is one family, custom dates, two to three different academies, and the parent sees the school and the neighbourhood. The trip gives exposure; this gives a decision.
Does the parent have to travel?+
For under-18s, yes: a parent or guardian is with the player throughout. That is the point — you are choosing where your child might live for three years.
Which academies?+
Partner academies in the Valencia and Alicante region, matched to the player's position, age and level after the planning call. Poland is possible for 16+ on request. We name them on the quote, not before.
What if an academy says no?+
You'll get that in writing with the reasons, which is exactly the information you travelled for. Most families come home with at least one “yes, next season” and one “not yet”; both are useful.
How much lead time?+
Six to eight weeks from confirmation to travel, mainly for the visa. School-holiday windows fill first.
What does it cost?+
A custom quote after the planning call, covering Xdrona's fee plus accommodation and local transport at cost. Flights and visa are yours. A deposit confirms the academies; the balance is due before travel.
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