First-Team Performance Analyst

What the role involves

• Analyse own team performance
• Prepare video presentations for players
• Support coaches in the match-day dugout

Ways in, with or without formal qualifications

Experience, knowledge and interests count in football. These routes are what people in this role commonly point to.

• Experience

  Analyse matches for a team

  Offer to film and tag matches for a school, university, amateur or youth team, and deliver short clips and reports.

• Experience

  Work experience and internships

  Placements at clubs, associations, agencies and sports businesses. Often unpaid or low-paid, but the strongest way to get a first contact.

• Self-built

  Tactical self-study

  Structured study of matches, coaching books, courses and interviews builds knowledge you can talk about and write about. It does not replace a record of practice.

Qualifications and licences

These can strengthen an application but are not a gate.

• Degree

  Performance Analysis or Sports Analytics Degree

  Degrees designed for sports analysts, mixing video analysis, statistics and coaching knowledge. Helpful for analyst roles but not the only door.

• Degree

  Sport & Exercise Science Degree

  A degree covering physiology, biomechanics, psychology and research methods. It is the most common base for sport scientists, performance analysts and S&C coaches.

Skills and knowledge

• Video Analysis
• Event Data Analysis
• Tactical Knowledge
• Communication

Tools you may use

• Video analysis software
• Event-data providers
• Dashboard tools

Where this role is found

• Top-flight clubs
• Lower-league & semi-professional clubs
• Women's professional football

Where this role leads

• Head of Analysis

  Helpful

  Leads performance, opposition and data analysis across the club.

• Opposition Analyst

  Helpful

  Studies upcoming opponents and prepares the match plan.

Common stepping stones into this role

• Performance Analyst (Academy / Lower League)

Pay and context by region

Illustrative estimates scaled from a UK baseline. Check local job adverts and union or association data.