How It Works - 2026 Trial Matches

Starting this year, the AFL API provides access to Trial Matches to clubs via the Talent Standard/Standard Plus packages. While these matches work similarly to regular competition matches, they have some unique aspects worth detailing.

Where can I find them?

There are two API League records that host the Trial Matches: one Male, one Female.

note

Access to either league requires the completed Talent order form for that gender.

 {
    "id": 22,
    "name": "Trial Matches",
    "code": "TRIAL",
    "gender": "M"
  },
  {
    "id": 23,
    "name": "Trial Matches Womens",
    "code": "TRIALW",
    "gender": "F"
  }

Because Trial Matches can be played by a variety of different ages and seniority levels, a special Level Id is used to put them together - Level Id 10. This id will be used wherever Level Id is called for.

  {
      "id": 10,
      "name": "Trials",
      "code": "TRIAL",
      "classification": {
        "id": 2,
        "code": "AFLTIER2"
      }
    }

To get the full list of matches for 2026 then, for either league, is a call to the Season Fixture endpoint.

• Male: [https://api.afl.championdata.io/v1/leagues/22/levels/10/seasons/2026/fixture]
• Female: [https://api.afl.championdata.io/v1/leagues/23/levels/10/seasons/2026/fixture]

Once you have the desired Match Id, then use it as you would any other match.

What else should I know?

While the trial matches are presented in a single league, level and season, the squads are of course not necessarily competing with each other - this contains matches across Australia. If you call the Season Ladder endpoint for example, it will return a response, but not one that makes any real sense.

Finally, the API does not currently contain past trial matches, it has started with 2026, so if you call previous seasons there's nothing yet to return. We will communicate when the past seasons are available at a later date.