How to become a football scout

In football, as in many other sports, there is a scout. This is the person who collects, processes, and supervises specific players for his team; in simple terms, his job is to find talented athletes for his sport (both domestically and internationally). Therefore, such a specialist has to often visit different countries for the successful selection of candidates.

Such specialists should be able to analyze various characteristics of athletes because the final decision depends on this. There is no scout school. To be successful in this profession, you must have football experience or good football connections.

The analysis of candidates for a team is an important crucial stage in the work of a scout. To correctly evaluate a candidate and make a successful choice, you also need to understand the game and what happens during the match. More information about the nuances of the work of scouts can be found on the website https://superbetting.com/.

Stages of a scout in football:

The structure of interaction between the management of a football club and a scout when selecting a football player for a team is as follows:

• First, the club's management or the coach determines the problematic position in the team, for which it is required to find a player.
• The scout is tasked with finding a player.
• The scout then draws up a list of candidates for the respective position and conducts further analysis.
• After careful analysis, the scout leaves up to 3-4 positions in the list.
• Next, the scout collects information on specific players from the list and watches matches with the participation of these players live.
• At the final stage of the work, the scout reports to the club's management the results of his work and explains why the team needs the player he has chosen.

Qualities that a scout should have in football:

• Understanding of football and the characteristics of this sport

Moreover, the scout must not only understand the rules and tactics but also understand football as a business process.

• No aerophobia

Scouts have a fairly busy lifestyle, they spend a lot of time on airplanes. Therefore, those people who are afraid to fly on airplanes or cannot stand the busy work schedule will not be able to work as scouts.

• Foreign language

The scout must know English, as it is the basic language for this job. At work, he always finds himself in different countries, so he needs to maintain communication with specialists from different countries who speak different languages. Knowledge of additional foreign languages ​​is an advantage for scouting. Also, the scout can negotiate with the player's English-speaking agent.

• Analytical mind

It is often difficult to choose one football player from several. Each has its own characteristics - both positive and negative sides: someone has a difficult character, someone has big demands, and someone is more prone to injury than others. The scout must be able to make the right choice, taking into account all the risks and the price-performance ratio.

• Experience in negotiations

One of the main tasks of a scout is to find a player and collect all the necessary information on him. Most often, negotiations are the task of the club, but there are situations when it is the scout who must communicate with the player and his agent. Therefore, the scout must have experience in negotiating.

How to become a scout

There is no special training for future scouts. More often, former footballers, former coaches, and football fans with great luck, who managed to break through, become scouts.

Working with each player is long and multi-stage. First, you need to look at the field, talk in person, and see reviews.

It is important to note that in order to form your opinion about an athlete, it is imperative to watch live matches with the participation of one or another player. The scout expresses his personal opinion about a person only after a detailed analysis of the athlete's work. Match analysis helps you see the nuances of the player's handling of the ball, the athlete's gaze, and the level of concentration. Personal communication makes it possible to understand the character of a person and his attitude to the game in a team, as well as to find out the financial interest.

Usually, a professional scout only needs 2 watched matches in order to determine the level of a player. False conclusions can be drawn in one match. It is better to study several games at once. When looking for talented football players, a scout must-watch hundreds of matches.

To simplify the work of scouts, various programs have been invented. For example, today a scout can study all the statistics of a player, watch hourly cuts, or filter videos by special preset parameters. You can open a list of only those forwards who play well with their heads. After the scout finds the right footballer, he can contact the footballer's agent with one click.

How do scouts look for talent?

Every scout looks for a unique trait in a footballer. Most often these are feints and tricks with a ball performed by an athlete.

When the players behave the same on the field, the game becomes boring. A footballer who shows himself and makes feints is a signal for a scout to take a closer look at such an athlete. However, here it is important to understand that trick must be done wisely. Nobody needs to spin the ball just like that.

Each club has its own taste for the players. One is looking for a technique and the other is looking for a show. The main thing is to consider the athlete's play as a whole. At the same time, the scout should always be guided by the priorities of the club and look for such a player in whom a particular team is interested.

The personal qualities of a person are also important. Even a talented athlete with good technique can be left without a club if he has a bad reputation. Scandals, fights, and notoriety will keep a player from getting into a good club.

What a scout gets: salary and privileges

The main advantage of every scout is the opportunity to get the best seats in the stadium in the central sector, and sometimes in the press box.

Scout salaries are small: for example, in England, a scout can earn 2000 pounds a month. Working conditions with each club are considered individually. The specialist receives a percentage for each brought player, and the size of this percentage is determined by each club separately. Many make good money in this area, but this does not always happen - it all depends on the specific club and country. Most often, scouts are not for the sake of a large salary, but for the sake of being closer to the world of football and personally communicating with the players.

There are cases when scouts were offered bribes. But it should be understood that it is extremely difficult to deceive an employer. A scout who brings in bad players runs the risk of losing quickly. Reputation is much more important than finances, because if a scout loses his job, he may no longer be taken to another club.

All scouts work according to different systems. For example, Monaco, Porto, Benfica have a well-functioning scouting system - each of the clubs has 70–80 scouts. But these are farm clubs that live off the sale of players. They can buy ten footballers for two or three million euros, realizing that after some time some of them will be sold for 40-50 million. This will cover the costs of all ten and even earn.

In some other countries there is a different system when players over 18 years old are brought from abroad, and in some European countries - players from 16 to 18 years old.

Experienced scouts note that the main task in this profession is to determine the level of a football player and his growth potential. You also need to consider the coach's predisposition to the style of the players. If the coach plays "vertical" football and he needs a pillar in the attack, and the scout offers him the classic "nine" of small stature, then such a player will not suit the team, which means that the scout has not coped with his task. Of course, there are exceptions - for example, the Belgian footballer and striker of the Italian club "Napoli" Dries Mertens, due to his good speed, can compensate for the lack of growth, responding to long passes behind the defenders. But not all footballers can do this.

The person who reads the scout's report must understand how good a particular player is. Based on the results of the report, the scout gives the club's management a recommendation whether to sign a contract with this athlete or not. In addition, he must identify possible risks - for example, high injuries, low starting speed of an athlete.

Thus, a lot depends on the scout's work - the entire football season in the club may depend on what kind of athlete he selects for the team. Therefore, a scout must have all the necessary qualities, which are listed above, as well as be well versed in football and have high-level negotiation skills.