Different types of Sports Analysis jobs...

Sports analysis has come a long way since I started out around a decade ago.

When I started, not really any clubs had more than one analyst and some didn’t even have that. Nowadays with the advancement of technology and abundance of data, there are plenty more roles to go around.

In this article I will be highlighting some different types of roles that I have seen advertised recently and the types of responsibilities that they may include.

If you are in a club, you may find yourself doing little bits of a number of these but it is possible to niche down into a single one as clubs do look at expanding their departments and more analysis can be done to try to squeeze out any potential edge.

I think this article may help give ideas to current students who may think they want to do some form of analysis job but aren’t too sure about all of the opportunities that are out there.

Ok, so I am going to start with the job of ‘first team analyst’. This is the main role that existed when I started out. This role would usually have been a single person doing smaller bits of different areas, simply because they only had so many hours in the day. However, I would say the majority was spent looking at opposition and trying to find the best ways win the next game. Other areas probably got neglected as time was limited so the opposition was viewed and a presentation would be created amongst other weekly tasks such as post match analysis, set plays, databasing etc.

This leads me into the role of opposition analyst. This is where you would solely focus on every other team in the league. You may not even go to your clubs games and instead be watching your next opponent. All of your work would be around how the team could beat their opponents. Who are their danger men, where are the weak spots? What do they like to do in possession? How about when they lose possession.

All teams are different depending on manpower, but some will choose to watch at least three games of the opposition before you play that opponent. This could be more, could be less. As you will be doing a lot of watching of other teams, you will really start to understand how different teams play and what their tendencies are. Nothing is certain in football as a team can easily change how they play, but the more work you put in, the more you will know.

Next is another role of the ‘first team analyst’ which seems to have spun off into a role of its own and that is set piece analyst. Don’t get me wrong, not all clubs will have the luxury of this position by itself. It is usually the first team analyst that has to look at set plays but if you think about it, there is so much you can do when it comes to this.

With up to 40% of goals coming from set plays it is clearly an area that a club should be maximising. A friend of mine who used to be in the role of ‘first team analyst’ has now transitioned to this set piece role and it really does sound interesting. Just sticking to my main sport of football, you have corners, attacking free kicks, penalties and even throw ins. This is a really undervalued area I think, and whilst not many clubs are doing much on this, the clubs that are could really see some benefits.

Next on the list is an academy analyst. Pretty obvious to what this position is really. You will be working with the academy teams to ensure they get the analysis that they need. You will be filming, coding, prepping for games and giving presentations. In the older age groups it isn’t too different from doing it with the first team but you have to remember that within the academy, the focus is also on development rather than just winning.

Usually there is a ‘head of academy analysis’ and then some others for the different age groups. Depending on the club you may have a few age groups to look after, or just the one. It is often interns that focus on filming the really younger ones as they usually get less analysis than the older teams.

Ok, another role you can do within analysis is to be a recruitment analyst. I did do this during my time at Brighton and it was quite enjoyable actually. In this position you are working more in the scouting department but you still use analysis skills to get the job done.

You will be watching games from all over the world to pick out certain players. You will have to research leagues, different squads and also look at stats and metrics to help you find players that you think will fit into your current squad.

You get to watch a lot of football in this role and learn a lot about different leagues. It does involve a lot of research but if you like that sort of thing, you may enjoy this type of job.

Next is one that probably isn’t as common so I don’t know too much about but I have seen this advertised before. That is, training analyst. Obviously elite teams are training a lot and these session are meticulously planned by elite level coaches. I would presume this role would include filming and managing training footage, coding it and also working closely with the coaches. This may also link to sports science and the GPS data which I have actually included as a separate role.

With the rise in GPS equipment and wearables, this has allowed for jobs to be created to help manage and work with the data. These pieces of kit can produce loads of different data points all of which is pretty useless if you don’t have someone that can work with it. This job is more of a sports science role I would say, but still analysis. This role would mean you would be working closely with the sports scientists and other fitness staff as well as coaches.

Ok moving on... another data type role we are starting to see more of within clubs is data scientist or data analyst. Now this role does require an extra set of skills than you may not get with your standard sports undergrad degree which is why it would be also open to people with other degrees linked to numbers and data such as data science, mathematics, or similar. If you do take an interest in data when you manage to dip your toe in it, there would be plenty of courses out there to hone your skills. You can check out a video I did below going over getting started in the world of football data analytics.

Finally, I will say that some of the roles I have mentioned can be done on freelance style contracts. I know people that specialise in set plays for example that work as consultants to various clubs. This is also the case for people that work within data who specialise in a particular league or country so there are plenty of different opportunities for you to explore.

I hope this article has been useful. If you work in a role that I haven't mentioned, please do drop a comment below, so we can show that position some love too.

Thanks again for reading and have a great day!