How To Be A Football Scout In 2022 & How Much Can You Make?

Scouting for years has been a pivotal aspect of the football game, with clubs constantly on the lookout for the next player to take the game by storm.

You could argue if it wasn’t for the scouting system in place, that the game wouldn’t be where it is now.

So because of that, with especially clubs at the top of the footballing ladders, there is a lot of focus on scouting.

Now with scouting being so big, it is only right to assume that the people who work in this department make lots of money.

Well in this post we will be diving into this, talking about what scouts do, how much scouts make and how to get involved as one.

Table of Contents

What Is A Football Scout?

In the game, you have different types of footballing scouts.

You have your technical scouts which as it suggests is all about using technology and reading data. This would be monitoring the stats of games and players.

The more common type of scout is a talented one, whose job is simply to find new talent for the club to potentially pick up.

I say simply, however, the role is one that can be very demanding with so many scouts reporting how it can be a non-stop job.

How To Become A Football Scout?

Scouting isn’t the kind of job where you go to UNI any study it nor is it one you can directly apply for.

You will need some qualification to get a scouting role, but it is often as a lot of aspects in football or who you know.

In order to become a scout though you need to have a great and deep understanding of the game.

You need to be able to pick out players that have talent at a young age from a big pool of players.

From there you then need to be able to evaluate the players and work out if they would be a fit or even have the potential to be at the football club your working at.

Another thing is while there are a lot of players in the world that possess the talent to play the game, only a small percentage have the mentality to succeed and go far.

So not only does a scout need to be able to be highlight players strengths they need to understand the weaknesses too.

Why Is Football Scouting So Important?

Scouting is an important role and is an investment to the club.

Now since teams have a squad of 25 players, it’s obvious that most players who are scouted or come through the academy don’t make it.

Some of them will make appearances for the team whether that be in the domestic competitions, and an even smaller group will become regulars.

However, with all these players that come into the club, they all become assets because of contracts being signed.

This means the club will have the opportunity to sell players for good amounts of money too other teams.

With the amounts of money in the game now, it isn’t uncommon for kids from 16 up to be sold for thousands of pounds.

One example would be Jadon Sancho’s move from Man City to Borussia Dortmund.

A kid who was scouted and brought from Watford at 15 for £66,000 was then sold 2 years later for £8 million.

It was a great deal at the time, however, Sancho’s career has since flourished with his price tag going up by at least 10x that.

But numbers like that give you an idea of why some clubs focus more on scouting players than building homegrown talent.

How Much Do Football Scouts Get?

There’s a wide selection when it comes to football scouts, because you have those who work for the top clubs and also those further down.

Now as you would suspect to be the case, the bigger the club you work at the more likely you are to make more money.

Whether that be a nice annual salary or significant bonuses for attracting players that go on to be a hit at the club.

If we look at the Premier League the top division in England, for your best scouts your likely going to be seeing near enough 6 figures a year.

However, as you go down the leagues, the amount of money invested into scouting is lower because of the budget of the club.

This means you can make anywhere from 6 figures to an average full-time salary.

Should You Become A Scout?

Scouting isn’t cut out for everybody and while the money at the top levels is considered good, there is a lot of work to get there and to do once your there.

It’s a role for people who have a great passion for the game, if you enjoy watching football matches and critiquing players then arguably scouting is a great fit for you.

But if you like your football but not enough to be watching it and working long hours every day, mostly in freezing conditions then there are other roles in football you can pursue instead.