How to write a football scouting report

Before you write: the brief and the date

A report without a brief is a biography. Before looking at a single figure, be clear about who it is for (which club, which level, which style of play), which role (a winger who holds the touchline is not one who drifts inside), the budget and the transfer window. If there is no specific club, write for the kind of team that would sign the player, never assuming his current club is the destination.

And put the cut-off date on the first line. Football changes every week: a report without a date goes stale without anyone noticing. The real report we use as an example opens with the date its data runs to.

Step 1. Start with the conclusion

The first section is the executive summary, and it starts with the recommendation: sign, sign with conditions, monitor or pass. Then, in three or four bullet points, the player’s current situation and the factors that decide the deal. In the example report, the verdict on Villarreal winger Alberto Moleiro is “monitor, do not sign today”: he is under contract until 30/06/2030 and his club will not negotiate below his release clause. The deciding factors are his role (out-and-out winger or number 10) and a low scoring rate this season.

Anyone who reads only those lines knows what to do and why. That is the goal.

Step 2. Performance and fit, in context

List this season and last by competition: appearances, minutes, goals and assists (for goalkeepers, goals conceded and clean sheets). Minutes matter as much as goals: they tell you whether he starts, rotates or sits on the bench, and how much weight the sample carries. Then explain which role he suits and which he does not, always with the figure that supports it.

• Normalise per 90 minutes when comparing players with different minutes.
• Always state the sample. A percentage based on 300 minutes is not worth the same as one based on 2,000.
• Put the league next to the figure. Ten goals in the Eredivisie and ten in the Premier League are not the same data point.

And if sources disagree, say so. In the example, faced with two different figures for last season’s minutes, the report refuses to give one and explains the discrepancy instead of picking the convenient number.

Step 3. Physical, technical and tactical profile: facts, not adjectives

This is where reports fill up with empty phrases (“good striker of the ball”, “tactically intelligent”). Every trait you claim must rest on something concrete: a metric with its percentile and sample, a pattern seen across several matches or a dated public statement. Two or three well-supported points per section are worth more than ten adjectives.

Physical profile: height, foot, age, injury history with dates and days out, and current fitness. When there is no data, write it down and say how to get it. The example notes that there is no public data on weight, top speed or distance covered, and recommends asking the club for running data and watching three full matches on video.

Step 4. Risks, with level and mitigation

A report without risks is not optimistic: it is incomplete. Pick three or four, each with its level (high, medium, low), the figure behind it and, where possible, how to mitigate it. The usual ones: physical and injuries, minutes and performance, age and contract length, feasibility of the move and cost. From the example (translated):

Step 5. Contract and market

Contract end, release clause if public, renewal status, interest from other clubs and the route that makes sense: permanent transfer, loan, free agent or pre-contract. Give the market value with its date and remember that value is not price: price depends on the contract, the selling club’s situation and competition for the player. Also state which window the deal would be possible in.

Step 6. A verdict with conditions

The last section must say the same as the first, precisely. The formula that works best is conditions: “Sign him if…” and “Rule him out if…”, with checkable facts, plus a reasoned maximum price and dated next steps (which matches to watch, what to ask the club, what to confirm). That turns the report into a work plan, not an opinion. You can read the full verdict of the example in the real Gemsy report (in Spanish).

If the verdict is “recommended with reservations”, name the reservation. Watching video or passing a medical are normal steps in any signing, not reservations.

Common mistakes

• Adjectives without data. “Quick”, “hard-working”, “room to improve”: without evidence, cut them.
• Mixing fact and opinion. The reader must be able to tell a fact from your interpretation.
• No date. The report goes stale without warning.
• Ignoring the sample. A good month is not a good season.
• Contradicting yourself. A summary that says “sign” and a verdict with three serious reservations.
• Confusing market value with price.
• A lukewarm verdict. If nobody knows what to do after reading it, the report has failed.

Football scouting report template

Copy this structure into your word processor and fill it in. It is the same one Gemsy uses in its reports, with the question each section should answer.

If you would rather not start from scratch, Gemsy fills in this same structure with the player’s data in seconds: AI scouting report.

If you do not have time to do it by hand

Gathering a player’s data, cross-checking it and writing eight sections takes hours. That is exactly the part an AI scouting tool can do for you, as long as it follows the rules in this guide: dated figures, declared gaps, risks with levels and a verdict with conditions. With the report done, your time goes to what cannot be automated: watching the player and deciding.