"Discover Africa's Essence with Scout Africa Xpress"

Football Scouts In Africa

Football Scouts In Africa

Are there any Football Scouts In Africa ? A football scout attends football matches on behalf of clubs to collect intelligence. Primarily, there are two types of scouts: player scouts and tactical scouts. Player scouts or physical scouts evaluate the talent of footballers with a view to signing them on a professional contract for their employers. 

Football Scouts In Africa

Some scouts focus on discovering promising young players and future stars, others are employed to run the rule on potential signings. While smaller clubs might only scout within their own country or region, larger, richer clubs can have extensive international scouting networks.

Tactical scouts assess the matches of upcoming opponents of the club and prepare dossiers for their teams’ tactical preparations. Instead of identifying talent in these matches, the scout assesses the team and each individual player to identify the relative tactical threats and weaknesses in the opposition. Tactical scouts are typically full-time employees of clubs as their knowledge and findings are considered precious to clubs.

What do football scouts look for?Football scouts looking for a keeper are looking for correct positioning, great reflexes, on the ball technique and smart distribution. All these qualities can be the difference between for you to get scouted by a football team.

What scouts look for in football players?Particularly for offensive-minded players, movement is critical, and scouts are looking for a natural desire from kids to find space and look for opportunities to get the ball. Much like a game of chess, scouts also want to see evidence of youngsters thinking three or four moves in advance. What age do scouts look at football players? Most footballers are scouted before the age of 13 from county leagues, so you need to put in the work from a young age to make sure you stand a chance of succeeding.

How Does Football Scouts Works In Africa

Not all scouts are actually employed by football clubs. For example, the makers of the Football Manager computer game have their own international network of scouts, and in 2008 signed an exclusive deal with Premier League side Everton to provide early access to their database of statistics and ratings . Here are the things Football Scouts In Africa do when looking for potentials .

1. Finding players

A player scout typically attends as many football matches as possible to evaluate targets first hand. Scouts who wish to identify promising young players typically attend lower-league club games, where their talent can be compared to older peers, or under-16, 18 and 21 international tournaments. Scouts may also receive tips from agents, peers and club colleagues. During 2010s, it has become quite common to use online tools like Wyscout to find football players.

2 . Evaluating players

On the first evaluation, player scouts determine whether a player has the desired technical attributes to succeed at the sport. They then highlight this player to the club management. Some of the desired attributes that scouts look in players include:

  • Goalkeepers: good reflexes, communication with defence, one-on-one ability, command of the penalty area and aerial intelligence.
  • Centre-backs: good heading and tackling ability, height, bravery in attempting challenges, concentration.
  • Full-backs: pace, stamina, anticipation, tackling and marking abilities, work rate and team responsibility.
  • Central midfielders: stamina, passing ability, team responsibility, positioning, marking abilities.
  • Wingers: pace, technical ability like dribbling and close control, off-the-ball intelligence, creativity.
  • Forwards: finishing ability, composure, technical ability, heading ability, pace, off-the-ball intelligence.

Once a player has been recommended to a club, the club may continue to monitor his progress over a period from as little as a few months to as many as a few seasons. Scouts continue to evaluate whether a player has turned in consistent performances, if he has retained his appetite for team responsibilities, and so on.

When the club is satisfied that a player fits the requirements of the club, the club may extend the invitation to the player to attend a trial at the club, where scouts and coaching staff evaluate the player’s suitability for the club in terms of his personality and training attitude. Clubs also tend to perform background checks on the player. A trial at the club allows the club to evaluate the standard of the player against players already on its roster. However, in the top leagues, players are typically not allowed to leave training to undertake trials unless they are already out of contract and need to prove their fitness and ability to any clubs interested. Smaller clubs in need of the cash for transfers may also be more amenable to allowing their players to leave on trials.

Once the player has passed these evaluations, the club then starts negotiations with a view to a transfer, either a permanent transfer, a loan, or co-ownership (as is common in the Italian leagues).

Tactical scouting In Africa

Tactical scouts watch the games of a club’s upcoming opponents to assess their overall ability, as well as their specific threats and weaknesses. Almost every major club side in the world, including Chelsea FC, is known to employ the extensive services of tactical scouts. From these assessments, tactical scouts compile dossiers with recommendations to club coaches and players on their actions on-field.

In major clubs, it is typical for scouts to assemble specific reports and DVDs on specific opponent players. These DVDs and reports are watched, read and reviewed by players a few days before the game. Nearer towards the game, it is typical for coaches to convene meetings to summarise the findings of these reports and the approach recommended to the players.

More specifically, tactical scouts:

  • Offer advice on the team’s general approach
  • Identify the opposition’s key threats and ways which they can be dealt with.
  • Highlight the opposition’s key weaknesses.
  • Penalty kick takers are assessed according to which sides and corners they prefer aiming their kicks at.
  • Identify the opposition team’s favoured attack set piece movements, as well as their deficiencies when defending set pieces.

Importance of scouting In Football

With the modernisation and globalisation of football and the football club economy, scouting has grown in stature and importance. Competition to search for young talents is extremely keen. Although it is difficult to quantify the prevalence of scouting in modern football, circumstantial evidence of its magnitude is readily available. The former Chelsea FC Chief Scout Gwyn Williams is reported to have used a database containing up to 77,000 players while working there.It has also been reported that home games of the French second division club Tours FC are attended by an average of 15 to 20 scouts per game.

The importance of scouting offers football clubs with several distinct advantages:

  • Global reach. Scouting allows clubs to cast the largest possible net to find players from all around the world.
  • Cheap players. Players from lower leagues can be available at cheaper transfer prices, and command smaller wages. In particular, a talented cheap player can help a football club to progress in a league, knockout cup competition, or into continental cup competition, potentially even ahead of other clubs with superior financial clout.
  • Specialist tactical advice. Scouting opposition matches allows clubs to build up a knowledge base about opponents that club coaches would otherwise not have the time and resources to research on their own.

Get Detailed Information at en.wikipedia.org

How do you become a scout for football? How to Become a Football Scout

  1. Step #1 – Consider if the job is right for you
  2. Step #2 – Coach or play sports
  3. Step #3 – Go to school & get certified
  4. Step #4 – Attend online training academies
  5. Step #5 – Brush up on sales
  6. Step #6 – Work your way through the industry.
  7. Step #7 – Be willing to toil.

How much do football scouts earn UK?For most football scouts, according to Glassdoor you can expect a wage between £20,000 and £24,000 if working in a salaried role.

Don’t miss out on current updates, kindly like us on Facebook Follow Us On Instagram &  Subscribe To Our Channel OR leave a comment below for further inquiries. 

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More