Football scouting might sound like a dream job for football lovers. In many ways it is, offering the opportunity to immerse yourself in the game and dedicate your career to it. This can be very rewarding for someone who has a true passion and is looking to find a meaningful line of work. It is not a job to be taken lightly though and getting into football scouting in the first place can be difficult. Once well established as a professional scout, it is also important to have a strong network and to keep building on this, so it is easier to find work you love. Finding the right way to build up this network is essential to the success of many football scouts who go on to have long and successful careers in this field.

So how do you build up your network and make your name known in the world of football scouting? Once you are well established, people and teams may ask for you directly and want to recruit you based on your past performance and experience. It can be much harder before you reach that stage though, and even if you do, there are still challenges. There are also different kinds of football scouting – club scouts, scouts who analyse techniques and tactics, scouts who work with young up and coming players, and many more. This is a field with huge amounts of opportunity, but with it comes huge amounts of competition as well.

You need to give yourself a head start by making sure you are positioned to hear about any new jobs that come up so you are aware of what is going on in the industry and have the opportunity to apply for the positions that interest you the most. One great starting point is to register with a football scouting directory. These are specialist directories just for the people who work in this field, connecting scouts with people who are actively looking to recruit them. This can be a very successful way to get a foot in the door as a football scout. Even more senior scouts with years of experience will often make sure they are registered for good scouting directories so they hear about new work first and their names are out there for football clubs and individuals to find as well.

When registering for a directory, you need to remember that this is like your shop window and you need to present the professional image that you want the world to see. You will usually be asked to fill in your profile on signing up, where you should list all of your experience and where your main interests in football scouting lie. Directories can also be platforms for advertising and finding jobs, so you may be able to look through job adverts on the same website and identify roles that may be suitable for you. If someone who is hiring is interested in your profile, they will be able to contact you directly to speak about the opportunity.

Football scouts are scouting professionals who look for top talent in football. They are essentially a football recruiter, seeking out and headhunting the best, most talented players on behalf of clubs, organisations, who whoever they work for. Some scouts may also attend football matches on behalf of their employer to scout out tactics and gather intelligence, looking at the team as a whole as well as at individual players. Their role will be to find areas of weakness as well as to spot new tactics and find out as much information as possible ahead of a game against them.

Football scouting is quite a unique job in that it will require both an excellent level of knowledge of football, as well as people skills, skills in negotiation, and plenty of fresh ideas about how to innovate the sport and bring the right players on board. To do this, scouts must go through rigorous training and/or have a great deal of experience. Top talent scouts in the footballing profession can be highly sought after and many clubs may want to work with them. This can make it a very appealing career path, especially for people who are passionate about the sport and want to work in this area specifically.

On a day to day basis, scouts will often be found attending various football matches. The matches they attend will depend entirely on what they are looking for. Some scouts specialise in spotting upcoming talent and will look for younger players who they might want to focus on – they might already be coming up through the ranks and might have been spotted by talent academies, or they might not have been spotted yet. In either case, a football talent scout can be integral to their success and getting them the breakthroughs they need in order to become professional footballers and base their careers around football. Other scouts specialise in the recruitment of professional players and bringing them on board for a club. In order to do this, they will need a very good knowledge of the game, who is playing, and at what level, and which players may be available for a transfer. Scouts can work at any level, from the premier league, through to lower leagues, through to non-professional teams or the national league.

Finding a scout as a football club or talent academy is not always easy especially as the very good scouts might have work engagements already. In this instance, it’s helpful to have a resource to advertise scouting jobs, or where scouts can themselves be headhunted. Resources exist which allow for both job advertisements, as well as for football talent scouts to create listings in a directory to get their names out. Using a resource such as a scout directory and job board can expedite the process of finding a skilled, qualified football scout who is experienced in their profession, knows what is required of them and who is also available for work, or actively looking for new engagements.

Recent studies have shown that it’s much better to allow kids the freedom to explore a variety of sports instead of devoting all their energies on a specific kind. People who engage in more than one sport are able to refine their skills faster and develop higher senses and improved pattern recognition. The benefits of these obviously extend to other areas of life outside sports. We want kids to become brilliant at any game they choose. And most importantly we want them to remain physically active for years to come. It’s also about time we move away from a culture that repeatedly places unrealistic demands on both parents and children.

Variety is the spice of life. Being exposed to different sports allows youngsters to enjoy themselves regardless of the game they’re playing. This goes further to reduce the pressure to succeed in competitions. Yet it can also be proven that if you enjoy the sport you’re playing, you are most likely to do well in it. This approach also helps kids discover what truly motivates them on a personal level.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has today ruled, that Luis Suarez’s four month ban will have to be completed. The Uruguayan hit-man was appealing his ban, a sanction which was imposed by FIFA after he stupidly attempted to bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup game in June.

The news means that Suarez will still have to wait till October 25th to play for new team Barcelona, but one bit of positive news is that he will now be allowed to train with his team throughout the suspension. Originally he was banned from all footballing-activity, but this has been relaxed as his legal team attempted to argue the fact, that as the incident took place whilst the player was in an international top, the sanction should be limited to international football. The three-man panel disagreed, but decided to let Suarez train again. Hopefully he’s learnt his lesson!

There have been many results and incidents so far in this World Cup that not many people would have expected. Some would say that the Luis Suarez bite incident was expected, but if it was then there wouldn’t be the reaction there has been.

England being knocked out of the World Cup probably is not so surprising but the fact that they were knocked out in their first two games must have been a shock to many. The biggest surprise has to be the fact that Spain plummeted out of the World Cup, but at least they finished their tournament with a win.

Although many Brits have returned home, there are bound to be more surprise along the way, but that’s what makes the World Cup such a special competition. The favourites are still Brazil, while Holland and Germany are also heavily backed, but who knows it could be the Greeks or Belgium who come out on top.

Ryan Giggs has been announced as the Manchester United interim boss following David Moyes being sacked. Giggs, now 40 years old has been in the squad since 1992 and enjoyed a wide array of successes in his career. Playing over 962 games Manchester United fans are eager to see the transition from player to coach.

After being under the football coaching legend Sir Alex Ferguson he has now embraced the challenge ahead of him. With 4 matches left in the season he and the team are in high spirits, even though they are sitting 7th in the league behind Tottenham.

Taking the “dream come true” role on with open arms, he has supported the team since the tender age of 13. Giggs sought some advice from Sir Alex Ferguson and placed fellow “Class of 92” team members Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt as part of the coaching team.

The upcoming game on the 26th April against Norwich City will mark Ryan Giggs first official coaching debut for the Man Utd legend that win or lose will go down in the clubs history.

There have been many questions asked of the English football team over the last few decades, and rightly so, because we have not actually came close to winning any international trophy. Will we fair better this summer, with perhaps the lowest expectations heading into a tournament?

Theo Walcott has already been ruled out with an injury he sustained against Tottenham, and the players may soon be added to the injury list over the coming months. With teams like Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy in the qualifying group we are certainly not favourites by any means.

That said,. We do have a chance, and if any country can keep Suarez quiet its England. That’s because we’ve seen him play and Jagielka and Cahill have experience against him. We’ve made it to the World Cup so we have as good a chance as any, but we need to see a lot more confidence going forward than we’ve seen compared to previous years.

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