My journey into scouting | Nuno Milheiro

Team athlead has had the privilege of working with Nuno since August last year. We caught up with him, trying to understand what goes in the journey of expert scouting. He joined our team as Co-founder & Head of scouting in November and has been overseeing athlead’s scouting strategy since.

• Could you state your full name, age, city of birth and where you currently reside
  I am Nuno Milheiro, 36 years old, I was born in Porto and currently reside in Aveiro District, Portugal.
• How many years have you been scouting, please elaborate on your experience.
  I have been scouting for pretty much all my life, editing databases, watching as many football matches as I could, taking notes, making my own analyses even if it was only to myself and my passion. I chose scouting as my career choice about one and a half years ago.

(Nuno has over 7 certifications in the field of sports analysis and football, this includes, The FA Level 1 in Talent Identification: License 62860914, Talent Identification in Football Level 1: Present License MILH886N PFSA and Quest Sporting Solutions’ talent scouting levels)

• Why did you decide to pursue scouting as a career option?
  It has been a long and tedious process, to be honest. My friends were trying to encourage me to dedicate myself to the football industry, especially as a coach.On the other hand, I had always been trying to find my true passion within this industry. And I realised, the role I love most was scouting, I decided to dedicate myself entirely to scouting as it is the role that completes me and the one that I believe that I am more suitable for. I believe that we need to be very honest with ourselves when we make such decisions, to follow our dreams and best utilize the skills we have.
• How can any sports enthusiast pursue scouting as a career? What is the procedure for it, what are the courses available online and how long does it take for one to become a recognised scout?
  Depends on the country where you are based out of initially. In Portugal scouting has only just started to become more serious and part of the clubs structure although it isn’t fully recognised as a profession. There are several certifications that you can easily find although the investment can be significant so it is always good to make sure that you have the passion, dedication, commitment and the necessary skills to be a scout. These days you can find plenty information about scouting and you can even get in touch with experienced scouts that are usually quite open to share their knowledge, experience and even advise you to move in the right direction.

Big fan of Sporting C.P., Nuno is mostly found on the road, identifying talent and forging relationships with football clubs

• What are the major issues being faced by scouts in the football industry of today?
  The biggest issue is the fact the many clubs are not yet prepared to understand that scouting is a key point for club development and significantly improves player-purchase decisions. Unfortunately, many clubs (especially in lower divisions) still see scouting as a non-priority cost when in reality is a cost that easily pays itself with.
  (Limited resources is a major constraint faced by most such clubs)
• Do you feel scouts are fairly compensated/paid for, by the clubs? Why is that?
  To be honest, nope. A scout is the first person to access the players and evaluate them, his/her role is to discover and identify talent. He/She is the source that can bring a big return to the club, so good scouts are absolutely essential for clubs. A scout travels often, needs full support, passion, resilience and to constantly stay updated with new and upcoming players. The issue is that football is still in a transition to understanding that a scout is a specialized person on-job. Not everybody is suitable to be a scout or have the skills for it, the same as a footballer, a coach or a chairman. There is still the myth that any person that played football can be a scout, what in my opinion is not necessarily true.
• How is athlead trying to solve the scouting issues of modern football? athlead is a very important tool for football in general. It was necessary a platform like athlead to allow everybody to have an opportunity and to be evaluated exclusively based on their skills, talent and potential, always in a fair way. Athlead gives the opportunity for any scout to grow, learn, share and enjoy his job. It allows the scouts to be active and motivated which is not easy when you are not working in a club structure. Any scout have the chance to share his reports and work and give his contribution for the football industry.
  (Background: athlead incentivises independent scout for each report that they publish, allowing a fair assessment of talent and engagement opportunities for scouts)

Nuno has over 7 certifications in football, this being one of his latest endeavours

• What is your vision as the head of scouting for athlead?
  My vision is the vision of someone with a huge passion for football and that identifies himself with athlead’s philosophy since the beginning. We want players and scouts to be recognized for their abilities and serve clubs with their talent requirements in a simple way. To discover players that otherwise wouldn’t have the platform/opportunity to be found. End of the day our goal and mission are to give our contribution to football in a way that gives everybody the possibility of success and promote their work, fulfil their needs and goals
• If you could give one piece of golden advice for all aspiring athletes, what would it be?
  The best advice is to keep always working hard and have self-belief. Who works hard, believes and always looks to improve in a serious and honest way will always have opportunities in any area of life.
• If you could give one piece of golden advice for all aspiring scouts, what would it be?
  Is pretty much the same. It is important to be persistent and to be always open to share knowledge, to be constantly learning and sharing ideas. Also to have integrity and passion. Those are for me the key aspects of everything in life.
• Which club have you been supporting since childhood:)?
  I can say that the team that I support is Sporting C.P but most of all I love the sport. To watch good games where everybody can enjoy. Football is the sport with more followers all over the world so it very important that everybody can enjoy and it is our mission to contribute to it.

Dinarte (left) and Nuno (right) have been on extensive travels since November, 2018, attending sports conferences and meeting scouting-heads/club-executives all over Portugal and Germany, setting up for an exciting summer transfer market for athlead

Over course of the coming months, we will be sharing more insights into the world of scouting and the future of football.

Onward, athlead!