10 Football Scouting Jobs
Football clubs across the Premier League, EFL, SPL, Europe, A-League & MLS for example, have football scouts in various types of football scouting jobs.
Below are 10 examples of the different types of football scouting job vacancies that football scouts often apply for & what each role can involve.
1. First Team Football Scout
First team scouts are essentially scouting & recommending players who are ready to come straight in & improve the first team squad or have the potential to improve the first 11.
At a Premier League club for example, this could involve watching games & scouting players in person across the:
- Premier League, EFL & SPL
- UEFA Champions League
- Europa League
- Europa Conference League
- European Leagues
- PL2 games
Dan at Ipswich Town for example, is 1 of our former students & has been a full time first team scout following completion of our scouting programme in 2023. He watches games & players from a combination of some of the competitions above.
2. Football Video Scout
The role of a football video scout is the most flexible in football as football video scouts are typically home based.
The role itself has created more opportunities than ever before, regardless of location as individuals only need a laptop or desktop plus good Wi-Fi connection.
Many football clubs across the world give its football scouts unique login details to access an online football scouting platform called Wyscout, which can be accessed anytime of day to watch recorded games in league across the World.
Football video scouts will typically be sent games each Monday to watch with specific players to report.
Video Scouts will then have that week to watch games & players anytime they like; however they MUST meet the deadline of watching & reporting on players by the end of the week.
For example, we have placed several of our students into 1st team football video scouting roles at Millwall.
Each week they are sent games to watch & will then submit scouting reports within the same week, which is what some have been doing for the club for over 4 years, following our recommendation.
3. Hybrid Football Scouts
Hybrid scouts do a combination of both live & video scouting like Lee at FC Twente who we placed into the club in 2021. Lee has been a First Team Hybrid European Football Scout for the club for 4 full seasons now.
4. Emerging Football Scouts
Typically involves scouting players across 18-21 age groups
In England for example, this could involve watching fixtures in the:
- UEFA Youth League, which is effectively the Under 19 version of the Champions League
- Premier League International Cup. All games take place across England & involve European U21 age groups. E.g. Manchester United U21 vs Valencia U21.
- Premier League Cup, which is the knockout version of the FA Youth Cup at U21 level.
- Premier League U18 games
- FA Youth Cup games
5. Grassroots / Academy Football Scouts
Essentially judging if a player has the potential to become a professional footballer / deciding whether to recommend players to the academy of the club they are scouting for.
This role typically involves:
- Watching games from age groups of 18 & below
- Scouting players locally or within a catchment area, pending on the club & country the club are based in
6. Position Based Football Scouts
Some football clubs have position specific based football scouts who will attend games for example to watch & report on only central midfielders who play within that game & through out the course of a season of games they attend.
They will then make recommendations based on the best different types of central midfielders they have seen over the course of a transfer window or season.
7. Football Scouting Co-ordinator
Key link between a Chief Scout & Football Scouts which can involve:
Assigning football scouts games to watch each week both live or via Wyscout
Sending separate games of 1 player for example to 6 different video scouts, in order to get 6 different opinions & reports of that player in different circumstances, such as when playing at home, away, when the team have won, lost, high pressured game etc.
Collating reports & information to pass onto the Chief Scout
Creating monitor shortlists
8. Chief Goalkeeper Scouts
In being such a specialised position, many clubs now have a Chief Goalkeeping Scout who will specifically focus on scouting goalkeepers on a week-to-week basis both live & via Wyscout.
For example, Tony Coton is Manchester United’s current first team chief goalkeeping scout & played a key role to the club signing Senne Lammens. On a month-to-month basis Tony will be scouting goalkeepers but also be monitoring goalkeepers who Manchester United have out on loan & coming through younger age groups.
9. Chief Football Scout / Head of Recruitment
- Key link between scouts, management team & football scouting director
- Assisting in the process of signing players
- Presenting realistic transfer / loan options
- One of a football club’s key decision makers
10. Football Scouting Director / Technical Director
Key link between the board, management team & chief scout which can involve:
- Over seeing a clubs scouting/recruiting department
- Implementing new processes & restructuring of a club’s scouting / recruitment framework
- Attending board meetings
How much do Football Scouts earn?
Full time salaries can typically vary from £30,000 to £100,000 a year pending on the type of football scouting role & level of experience.
In a first full time first team scouting role it’s uncommon to earn above £40,000 a year, however with experience & career progression, there can be significant pay rises.
Part time scouts typically earn up to £1000 a month.
Interested in becoming a football scout?
Contact us today with any questions you have about scouting via e-mail or WhatsApp and we will be happy to answer them.
Football Scouting Worldwide assist clubs with their recruitment of football scouts & football video scouts, which is a key reason in us being very proud to have 150+ football scouting course attendees scouting for clubs across the world in both scouting & video scouting roles.
Football Scouting Worldwide began providing scouting consultancy services to clubs across the world in 2019 & in 2020 we decided to go one step further in assisting clubs directly with their recruitment of football scouts as well as football video scouts.
How did we do this!?
Building trust was priority number 1 in working directly with clubs & chief scouts to create a unique scouting course that would replicate in many ways how someone would work for a club, particularly at 1st team level which is the area we specialise in.
90% of our client clubs said they would only be open to taking on course attendees providing there was no AI or automation involved & with direct interaction from a reputable scout with experience in working at the highest level.
Fast forward 6 years & we now have 150+ students in football scouting job roles at clubs across the world!
We regularly have football clubs / chief scouts asking us if we have individuals who have completed our online football scouting course based in certain cities, countries etc who are ready / available to begin scouting for them, notably as we can save clubs so much time instead of advertising football scouting jobs online.
Why go through hundreds of e-mail applicants when our client clubs can come just straight to us!
Firstly, many clubs will receive hundreds of speculative e-mails every single month with regards to football scouting jobs when they aren’t even advertising & many from people who haven’t even gained experience in producing scouting reports, understand what is required etc.
When clubs are then advertising scouting jobs, this increases much more & in having to spend so much time in going through hundreds of e-mails just to try and find a handful of people that have relevant experience & who happen to be based in desired locations, which can be extremely time consuming & frustrating!
The longer the process means the less efficient a football clubs scouting department will be, with less games watched & player’s scouted, resulting in competitors gaining an advantage & wider spread coverage of games. The negative knock-on effects can then quickly follow when transfer windows then open.
Because our online football scouting course is accredited worldwide & replicates in many ways how a person would work as a scout for a club via online scouting exercises, our client clubs know they will be getting individuals who will not only have gained the essential experience in completing scouting reports but those that have also been directly mentored 1-1 by an experienced industry leading scouting expert.
With 20 years of experience in scouting for clubs, including roles as a 1st team UK/European Scouting Manager for Premier League clubs, course attendees benefit immensely in having industry leading football scouting expert Steve Simmons as their own mentor, who personally reviews scouting reports, provides feedback & helps people be the best scouts they can be, whilst also helping students avoid making mistakes that he made when starting.
Combine that with current / former Premier League Chief Scouts, Managers & Technical Directors supporting Football Scouting Worldwide in featuring on scouting-based webinars hosted by Steve, clubs that take on our course attendees know they have also been educated by those who have been chief scouts & managers at the highest level.
If you want to become one of our client clubs or are a chief scout / head of recruitment reading this then get in touch today!