WORKING CONCLUSIONS
designated room in 81% of academies. A hall of residence for young players is available in 66% of academies.
all surveyed clubs). Delving deeper into these instructions, 90% of scouts in academies with a regular scouting service receive inputs on desired characteristics of players (71% of all clubs participating in a survey). Also, coaches of teams make a report on players from opposition teams in 84% of these academies (going down to 71% of all clubs participating in a survey). SALE Estimation of market value of players is conducted in 45% of academies, while 38% of clubs have set rules in place regarding selling players from the youth academy before they play in the first team. Just over a quarter of academies have rules in place regarding the retention to the academy budget of a proportion of the transfer value from such a player sale.
scientist – the most widely employed on a full-time capacity is a physiotherapist (84%), followed by sport scientist and match analyst (58%). The least widely employed in a full-time capacity is an HR specialist (22%), then nutritionist (30%). Joint non-football educative or creative activities for staff within clubs are organised in 55% of academies. Regular KPIs and goals for academy staff (excluding sport results) are defined in 55% of academies. PARENTS Regular meetings with parents are held in 94% of academies, and all those who do this have individual meetings with parents as well. An individual assessment of their child is performed in 55% of academies, which seems to suggest that just under a half of academies do not offer specific information about player development to
indicator of individualisation in player development. Also, and connected to that, of the teams and players that use such activities, 83% set non-football goals, as opposed to 66% of all clubs, which were participating in the survey.
52 (81%)
Q Do you have a room specifically set-up for player education?
47 (73%)
Q Are any non-coaching staff (eg psychologist, HR, pedagogue…) involved in delivering any team-level activities for players within their normal weekly schedule?
12 (19%)
Investments in infrastructure of partner clubs are rare; this is done in 14% of cases. STAFF A formal organogram of youth academies exists in 94% of them, mainly because this is now one of the requirements of UEFA licensing. The recruitment process for youth academy personnel is formally set up in 58% of academies, which is a relatively low number considering the importance of human capital for the success of any academy programme.
17 (27%)
SCOUTING Overall, 86% of academies have a
scouting department or regular scouting service dedicated for the youth academy. Among those, scouts are educated about specific selection criteria by coaches in 76% of academies (for contrast, this happens in 65% of all clubs participating in survey). Setting specific targets to scouts is common – they receive instructions regarding desired positions, which are wanted for each age group, in 93% of academies that have a scouting department or service for the academy (78% among
17 (27%)
35 (55%)
Q Do you have rules in place related to the retention to the academy budget of a proportion of the transfer value from a player sale in case he is an academy graduate?
Q Is a player for each parent?
assessment done
35 (55%)
Q Do you conduct joint non-football educative or creative activities for staff within your club?
47 (73%)
29 (45%)
INFRASTRUCTURE The oldest pitch that most academies are using is typically up to 10 years, but there are almost 40% of playing surfaces which are older than this. Facilities are split equally between individual and shared, with individual locker rooms for all age groups available in 53% of academies. Player education is held in a specifically
46 (84%)
Q Do coaches of your teams make reports on players from opponent teams they are playing against?
29 (45%)
“FC Zenit believe that having the best infrastructure in the country allows attracting top players from the rest of the nation"
Of all the different kinds of personnel present in academies – media managers, education, welfare, analysts, sport psychologist, HR specialist, pedagogue, nutritionist, physiotherapist and sport
9 (16%)
54
55
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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