Turn up with a birth certificate and boots. That is genuinely the whole entry requirement.
The J&K Sports Council has announced open selection trials to pick the union territory's Junior Girls and Sub-Junior Boys football teams for the All India Football Federation's National Football Championships 2026-27. No club affiliation, no school nomination, no entry fee — the trials are open, and the Jammu division ones are at Parade Ground.
Junior Girls — this weekend
Dates: 23 and 24 August 2026, from 9:00 am
Jammu venue: Mini Stadium Synthetic Turf, Parade Ground
Kashmir venue: Synthetic Turf Football Stadium, TRC, Srinagar
Who can play: girls born between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012
UT-level trials for those shortlisted: 26 and 27 August at TRC Srinagar
Sub-Junior Boys — from 1 September
Divisional trials: 1 to 3 September 2026, from 9:00 am, at designated facilities in Jammu and Srinagar
Who can play: boys born between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2014
UT-level trials: 7 and 8 September at TRC Srinagar
The specific Jammu venue for the boys' trials was not named in the announcement. Every recent edition has used the Mini Stadium Synthetic Turf at Parade Ground, but call before you travel rather than assume.
What to carry
Do not turn up short of paperwork — this is where players get sent home. Bring your original birth certificate, your current Aadhaar card, two passport photographs, photocopies of each document, and a full football playing kit.
The contacts given for queries are Javed Ahmad Sofi — 7006037351 and Ricky Kumar — 9149887665.
Where this actually leads
It is a real ladder, not a formality. The same open-trials route ran at the same Parade Ground turf on 31 July and 1 August for the junior boys, drew 375 registrations, and that squad left for the Dr B.C. Roy Trophy — the AIFF's national junior boys championship — on 20 August. Divisional trial to national tournament took three weeks.
For girls in the 2011-2012 age band, the Jammu-city venue is the part worth noticing. Girls' trials in J&K have frequently been Srinagar-weighted; a 9 am start at Parade Ground removes the single biggest reason a Jammu player misses one.
Sport is also, increasingly, a career route here rather than only a hobby — see how J&K's ₹2.71 crore sports cash award works once you are winning at state level and above.
Sources: Greater Kashmir · Greater Kashmir on the junior boys' departure
