Soccer Prospects
Footballers Should be Proactive
At the highest levels of soccer, agents and clubs look at a player’s Wyscout and Transfermarkt.
Wyscout is a platform that collects huge amounts of data and compiles it for agents, scouts, coaches and clubs. It can help the large clubs identify prospective players at a granular level. For instance, a club could search for left-footed strikers between 5’10” – 6’0 tall, and between 20 and 25 yrs of age. The results would be compiled and a list would be obtained. This service is incredible, but you have to be at a top club to have your film collected and analyzed.
Transfermarkt uses a number of pricing models to put values on different players. Again, in order to be on transfermarkt, you probably need to be with a bigger club or to have a member of your team have moved down from a larger club. (The transfermarkt may follow their transfer and then collect data for others on the player’s new team.)
This leaves a large part of young players with no way to be seen unless they are proactive in promoting themselves.
Some of the following are free of charge; others charge fees.
Footballers Global is an exciting new player support and showcase platform that is FREE to join. Players of all nationalities can join. This is still a relatively new social media site and it has already been growing by leaps and bounds.
Players create online CVs, post game footage, highlight videos, general information about themselves, as well as upcoming game schedules. It has an internal messaging system that allows scouts to reach out to players directly. There are controls in place so that communications stay safe.
Parents and football fans can also create their own accounts. They are even exploring opening a Mom’s lounge that will allow Moms to join as members and compare notes with other parents.
Footballers Global is only a few months old but already has well over a hundred scouts who have joined.
The site is going to do much more than afford players an opportunity to be seen. They are developing sections to support players by providing information on nutrition, mental health support and resilience training.
Fieldoo is another platform that allows its members to post information about themselves on its site. It offers a free membership and a paid membership. The paid offers more benefits.
Fieldoo has been around for a few years and has an established history of offering combines in Europe. They regularly host them in countries such as Spain, Germany and Slovenia, among others.
Fieldoo is exploring holding combines in the US. They are also looking at offering an opportunity to sign for 6 months with an actual club. If the player is under the age of 18, the contract would be for an Academy program. All expenses would be paid.
