Certificates tell people what you studied. A portfolio tells them what you can do.
I need to be careful here because I don't want to dismiss formal education entirely. There are some genuinely excellent courses in football analysis and scouting. But I've watched too many people fall into the same trap: they finish one course, feel like they're not quite ready, and immediately sign up for another one. Then another. Then another.
Three certificates later, they still haven't written a single scouting report that anyone has seen.
The comfort of learning
There's a reason this happens. Courses are structured, guided, and safe. You follow a curriculum, you complete assignments, you get a certificate at the end. It feels productive. It feels like progress.
But it's often a form of procrastination disguised as development. The real growth — the uncomfortable kind — happens when you put your own work out into the world and let people respond to it.
Nobody ever got hired in football because they had three certificates. People get hired because someone saw their work and thought: "This person can do the job."
What clubs actually see
I've been involved in hiring processes for analyst and scout positions. I can tell you with certainty that when a stack of applications comes in, the first thing we look for is evidence of work. Not qualifications, not credentials — work.
A candidate with no formal qualifications but a portfolio full of well-written scouting reports, clear data visualisations, and thoughtful analysis will beat a candidate with a master's degree and an empty portfolio almost every time.
That's not because qualifications don't matter. It's because in a competitive field where dozens of people apply for every role, the ones who stand out are the ones who can prove their ability before the interview even starts.
The 80/20 split
My advice to anyone building their skills in football analytics or scouting is to adopt an 80/20 rule. Spend 20% of your time learning — courses, books, tutorials, whatever helps you develop new skills. Spend the other 80% doing.
Write the scouting report. Build the dashboard. Post the analysis thread. Record the video breakdown. Publish it publicly, even if it's not perfect. Especially if it's not perfect. The feedback loop from real-world output teaches you faster than any course ever will.
The mental shift
The hardest part isn't the work itself. It's overcoming the feeling that you're not ready. That you need one more course, one more tool, one more skill before you can put something out there.
You don't. You're ready now. The gap between you and the people who are working in football is not knowledge — it's proof. Start building yours today.