Usain Bolt is making a run at professional football in Australia.
The Olympic sprint great has long expressed his love of the game. Since his retirement from track, he has tested himself with Germany's Borussia Dortmund and the Norwegian club Stromsgodset.
Now, at 31, he will try out for six weeks with the Central Coast Mariners starting next month. If all goes well, he could play for a season in Australia's A-league.
Australian agent Tony Rallis said Monday the Mariners and Bolt have a deal in principle, "subject to a couple of benchmarks."
Rallis said the eight-time Olympic Gold medalist would have to go through a tryout, and the Football Federation Australia would have to support his salary.
"Once the FFA comes back and says that they'll be part of the process, we're going to the trial," Rallis said.
The agent said the Mariners would guarantee 70 percent of his salary and the FFA would be expected to pay the rest.
"If he's competitive, he will lift our A-league profile," Rallis said. "He will create dreams for young people and he will give the A-league a profile no amount of money can buy. This bloke's an ambitious athlete. The A-league needed a hero and we got superman."
Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp said there is still a lot of work to do, and the tryout is essential in determining the skill of the 6-foot-5 Jamaican.
"It would only be big if he can play and if he can go really, really well," he said. "Because if he comes and he's not up to the level then it actually has a detrimental effect.
"But if he comes and he's as good as our reports are saying that he can be, then that would be very exciting and I'm sure that this stadium would be pretty full every time he put the boots on."
FFA cool on Bolt's A-league bid
Football Federation Australia has responded cautiously to reports Usain Bolt hopes to play for the Central Coast Mariners in the A-league.
Reports on Tuesday said the 31-year-old Bolt, an eight-time Olympic sprint gold medalist, has agreed to trial with the Mariners next month and may receive a one-season A-league contract if he impresses.
However, in order to make a deal possible the FFA would have to top up any salary offered to Bolt from its $3 million fund to attract "marquee" players. The Mariners owner reportedly has offered to meet 70 percent of Bolt's salary but the FFA's contribution might still be around $900,000.
In a statement late Tuesday, the FFA said, "While Usain Bolt is one of the most famous athletes on the planet, he's not a professional footballer.
"If the trial goes ahead and Central Coast Mariners decided it stacks up and they want to offer him a contract, then we will have a discussion with them around that and what might be possible."
Bolt, who quit the track last year, has already trialed unsuccessfully with Germany's Borussia Dortmund and South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns.