The football season is finally back and we couldn’t have waited any longer. The anticipation for the matches, our lineup predictions, the endless WhatsApp group discussion with friends, and the highs & lows of our favorite team: didn’t we all miss this?
With nearly 3.5 Billion people watching football, it is the most popular sport in the world. Millions of fans tune in every week to watch various football matches. We don’t just watch football matches, we analyze them by saying what could’ve been done better, and how the team could set up differently.
What if I tell you there is an analyst in all of us!
And even better.
What if I tell you that you can turn your passion of analyzing the game into a profession?
No, I am not joking. It is possible for you to become a football analyst and work for your favorite teams.
Wonder how?
Continue reading!
Let us first understand what football analysis is.
What is Football Analysis?
Before I tell you how to become a football analyst, it is important for you to understand what football analysis is.
Football analysis is a method of applying statistical and mathematical equations to football, in order to analyze player & team performances, predict outcomes of a match, help a team improve their game, etc.
Data analysis is the most important part of football analysis and a football analyst must be adept in this field.
There are a lot of layers to this, which go way beyond a WhatsApp discussion with your friend.
Everyone likes to analyze football, but a football analyst’s role is way deeper & extremely important to the team’s performances.
What does a Football Analyst do?
It is also important to understand what does a football analyst exactly do. We know so far that football analysis involves analyzing the game and helping a team improve their performances. The person who does this analysis is known as a football analyst.
A football analyst’s job is to decode the game and find out such observations/insights which are not visible to the naked eye. They study all the intricate details of the game by using various statistical and analytical methods to improve the overall performances of the team.
When you are appointed as a football analyst for a club, it will be your job to completely analyze the game and help increase your team’s performances. You will have a big impact on your team’s success and failure. You will be directly in touch with the coaches and players, being involved in many things that happen on and off the pitch.
While a football analyst stays largely behind the scene, he is very influential for what is happening on the field.
Now that you have a fair bit of idea about football analysis and the role of a football analyst, let me now show you how you can build your career in this field.
8 Steps To Become a Football Analyst
Let me make this easier for you, and break down 8 easy steps which you can follow to become a football analyst.
Let’s start!
1. Follow The Game
This goes without saying that the first and foremost step for becoming a football analyst is that you need to follow the game. You must take out time to watch football matches. And don’t just stick to the big European games on TV.
Try to watch your local club football team play, your state team, your national leagues, and the national team.
2. Study The Game
Everyone who loves football follows it. But that does not make them an analyst. You need to carefully study the game to go to the next level. Observe how the coaches set up their teams, what formations are they using, what tactics are they applying.
Make notes on it and study them after a game. Rewatch the matches to analyze what the teams did right and wrong. Once you start doing this, you can make predictions for the upcoming matches and then actually find out how close or off your prediction was.
Keep reading new articles on the game. Stay updated with all the latest rules and developments of the game.
Heck! You can even go a step further and try following popular influencers on twitter who are closely related to the field of football analytics.
Some of these people which you can follow are:
3. Enroll in a Course
If you are really passionate about becoming a football analyst, you should pursue a course on it. Lots of foreign universities offer courses which you can take.
The only downside is that these courses are priced at the higher end and can take time to be completed. But if you have the financial power and the time to pursue it, you should go for it.
However if you are someone who cannot go to a foreign university to pursue a course, don’t be disheartened as there are plenty of options for you. There are online courses that you can take in order to become a football analyst.
Over 231 students have started their journey in Sports with us.
We can help you as well!
Lastly, if you want to do things on your own, Youtube is the way for you. There are many tutorial videos on youtube which teach you all about football analysis and how you can get started in it.
This road can however, be confusing and take a lot of time.
4. Learn Coding
Well this must be a bummer for those who are from Non-IT backgrounds, but coding is an essential skill for a football analyst. You need to learn Python, Tableau, Java, R, etc.
The good thing is that even if you are not from an IT background, you can learn all of these skills and work your way up.
Here are some helpful youtube channel for you if you are looking to learn coding:
5. Start Analyzing
You can achieve something once you start working towards it. Start analyzing the game, not from a fan’s point of view, but from an analysts’.
If a player makes a pass, think why he made that certain pass. If the coach drops a player, understand what was the reason for it. You need to study even the little things, as they go a long way in the larger picture.
6. Publish Your Work
Once you start analyzing games, don’t just keep it to yourself but publish it online for others to see. You can make a twitter page, an Instagram account, a blog, a YouTube channel, etc. to showcase your analysis.
Be regular and consistent with your work. See how others respond to your analysis, take their feedback if they have any. All of this will help you improve, and take you one step closer to your dreams.
7. Network
Once you have enough work published online, make a portfolio of it and start networking. Use platforms like LinkedIn to reach out to industry experts and employers. Share your work with them, and ask if they could hire you. If you have any particular team in mind for whom you want to work for, regularly check their websites for any openings. Apply to as many opportunities you can, until you get one.
Apart from this it is crucial for you to network with your peers in this field and have insightful discussion with them. This not only helps you in building a name in this field but also impacts in widening your domain and thought process.
8. Gain Work Experience
Lastly and most importantly, gain work experience. You need to have practical exposure and knowledge to make a career in any industry, and football is no different.
Start off with internships if you can. Take any role that you are being offered. Do the job even if the pay is very less. It is important for you to get started, everything else will fall in place with time.
Over 231 students have started their journey in Sports with us.
We can help you as well!
Conclusion
So there you have it, 8 steps to become a football analyst. While these steps look very hard to follow, applying them practically is not.
You need grit and determination to become a football analyst, and that won’t happen without patience and hardwork.
The journey of working for your favorite football team and helping your beloved footballers may not be easy. But it is one that you should certainly try for. Dream big and turn your passion into a career. The higher the risk, higher the reward!
