Every role in football is competitive, with hundreds of people all applying for the same job. Without having the right skills it can be hard to standout among sea of people all with similar education and experiences.

This piece aims to go through 3 vital skills to become a data analyst in football. By practicing and developing these skills you will increase your chances of landing that data analyst role. These skills aren't anything revolutionary, but by simply being aware of them you will be more likely to improve.

Coding

Look at any job description for a data analyst role and it will be a requirement to be proficient in either Python or R.

But being proficient doesn't mean being an expert.

You'll need to learn the basics. Such as cleaning data, working with dataframes, and creating simple data visualisations using matplotlib. It might sound complicated, but if I can do it, you can too.

Being able to use Python, or R will dramatically improve your workflow and save you time. As with any role in football your time is limited. There are so many things to work on daily that take your time, such as video scouting, reports, data visualisations, and longer term projects. So being able to automate some of your processes using code is a life saver.

If you're completely new to Python then my recent blog post How to start learning python: The setup and starting guide will be a good starting point for you.

I'd also highly recommend looking at McKay Johns work. He's the reason I was able to learn Python, and he also has a new Python course. I'm not sponsored or anything but his work will help you successfully learn python, just as it did for me.

Game Understanding

Chris Robinson said "to work in the game you need to show you know the game". This becomes even more important if you don't have a playing background, or previous experience of working in football.

You're able to show that you have game understanding in various ways so don't worry.

As mentioned, if you've got previous experience working in football, then it suggests you have that game understanding. But if you don't have that experience think about the different avenues that you can get that exposure.

You can get experience without working for a club! 

Think about agencies, working directly with players, consultancies, or data providers. There are a lot of different ways of getting that first experience which can open further doors. One suggestion would be to look at the research projects you can do for data providers such as Statsbomb and OPTA. This work is a great avenue for getting experience and presenting at a conference.

You can also show your knowledge of the game through your online portfolio. Having a body of work online that is public will showcase your knowledge and skills - which will 100% increase your chances of opportunities. Anyone who is consistently sharing analysis work or projects will know the game. Creating an online portfolio is simply the best time investment you can make in yourself.

Courses and qualifications is the final way you can show that you have game understanding. More clubs are finding it desirable for analysts to have coaching experience. Getting your FA level 1 or 2 coaching badges (or equivalent) is good investment to level up your football knowledge. Just look at the rise of coach analyst roles.

Growth Mindset

Any potential employer wants to know how you have grown and developed throughout your career regardless of what industry you work in. Soft skills are now the core of what any hiring manager wants in an employee.

Football is a very fast paced environment which is constantly changing, being able to showcase that you can work under pressure, deal with change and overcome challenges is key. Having a growth mindset will help you develop these skills and more.

Reflect critically about yourself, what areas do you still need to develop? What do you still want and need to learn? Being able to talk about this shows you have a good self-awareness, which again is crucial when working in football where you can work with many different people, who have many different opinions.

Let's take this one step further. 

If you know what you need to develop, how are you going to improve those areas? Are you currently doing these things? This is what clubs want to hear, how are you currently developing yourself and your skills. This is all underpinned by your growth mindset.

Do you need help improving your skills to land a role in football? If so, my career workshop is perfect for you.

Our 1 hour video workshop goes through the skills you need and how to develop them, where & how to find jobs in football, how to write a killer CV, networking tips and how to start an online portfolio.

Not only that, but we have a CV and cover letter template to make your application stand out. Along with a dedicated group on discord for you to ask any questions and get further help.

Sound interesting? Get 20% off the football career workshop with the code "3SKILLS"