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Hello, Philip here. Have you ever wondered how to become a football scout? If so, stay tuned because I'm going to tell you a few things from my time as a scout and if not, I'm sure some of it will be interesting for you too.
Before I started at zone14, I worked for Bayer Leverkusen for just over 3 years. Of course, this culminated in us winning the German double last season and causing a stir with an almost unbeaten season in the meantime (yes, the defeat to Atalanta still hurts), but more importantly it was experiencing what it means to work in football every day.
I think I can help with that. I'm by no means an ‘expert scout’ who has the ‘golden ticket’ for you to work in football. But I would like to pass on to you some of what I have learnt to help you on your way: Or at least give you an insight into what it's really like to work for a Bundesliga winner.
The best way to start this discussion is to go into more detail about what the job actually entails. I think that the work of a scout is comparable to that of a headhunter. In both cases, the main task is to identify talent that fits the needs of the organisation they work for: A football club may need a new striker, just as a company may need a new salesperson.
A scout is usually responsible for a specific market. For example, I spent one of my seasons at Bayer Leverkusen as one of the two people responsible for Scandinavia: I looked after the top leagues in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
When you get a job like that, you normally spend the first few weeks familiarising yourself with the leagues and watching as much football as possible. I think the general opinion is that you have to travel a lot, and of course that's true to a certain extent, but a lot of the work is video analysis.
Usually, this first phase is very intensive because it's about finding out as much as possible about the talent in the region and, above all, separating the interesting players from the uninteresting ones. The amount of data is large and will continue to grow, but the ‘eye test’ often gives a good indication of who you should keep an eye on.
As you delve deeper into the market, you'll keep coming across certain players that pique your interest and that you should bookmark. Think about it this way: there are several thousand players in the top Scandinavian leagues. In order not to get lost in the scouting process, it's important to bookmark particularly interesting players that you can easily fall back on.
We have rated the players we are watching according to where we think they currently stand and what level they could reach. For example, a player like Lionel Messi would have been a 10/10 in his prime, but even very few football fans would say he's one of the greats. The important thing to remember here is that bookmarking is about prioritising players. Imagine a pyramid in which the higher up you go, the fewer players there are.
Over time, you watch fewer and fewer different games and concentrate on the players you have identified as the most interesting. In a market as large as Scandinavia, this list may only consist of a few dozen ‘to watch’ players at this stage, sometimes only one or two per position. This does not mean that the other market players are completely forgotten, it just means that the end of the process is approaching.
But there are always surprises when watching a particular market, and in our case the surprise was none other than Victor Boniface. When my colleague and I first saw him play, he didn't exactly catch our eye with his footballing ability. I remember one of my first descriptions of him was that he was built like a linebacker and had an incredible shot, but he wasn't Leverkusen material at the time. Going back to the earlier discussion of how we rate players, he was originally rated 4/6.
But in the words of my former boss, every year is like a dog year for a young player. In one year he can develop so quickly that you hardly recognise him, and that was the case with Boniface. He scored goals like an assembly line, attracted the attention of clubs all over Europe and eventually moved to Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise. We alerted our colleagues in the market and thanks to our diligent research, bookmarks and observations, we knew about him long before he became the top scorer in the Europa League: The rest is history.
Now that we've developed a shared understanding of how the scouting process really works, let's move on to the tips and tricks, some of which you can start incorporating into your life today.
The most important factor is probably a deep love of football. Yes, scouting is a job and a demanding one: but at the end of the day, it's all about the sport we're all so crazy about. Passion sells.
But that goes hand in hand with the fact that you have to understand football in depth. A long playing career can help build that knowledge, but to be a scout at the highest level you need to gain certain certifications along the way.
Clubs will be looking for that: You have to remember that football is an incredibly dynamic sport, which means you need to constantly keep up to date with the latest developments in tactics, technique and scouting in general. Qualifications are one thing, but I can't emphasise enough that clubs are looking for innovative individuals to join their ranks.
If you are active, you should try to expand your network, as socialising is perhaps the best way to gain a foothold in the football world. There are no limits; You never know who will open the door for you.
And finally, you shouldn't be afraid to take every opportunity that comes your way. You never know what's around the corner, so attend this event, sign up for courses and let your passion guide you, because the football world is small and you never know who is connected to whom.
In the world of football, no two paths are the same. You can see how quickly things can change when you realise that five years ago I would never have dreamed of being where I am today. If a good friend hadn't persuaded me to get in touch with my contact at Bayer Leverkusen over a gin and tonic in the middle of one of our Covid-19 lockdowns in 2021: I can safely say that I would not have been asked to write this blog.
So keep at it. Be persistent. Look for opportunities. If this is an invitation to go out and try, like my friend did for me, then please do it for yourself too. I'm convinced that you can write your own story if you let your passion run wild and commit to a cause, and I know you can.
