Why athlead?

Kylian Mbappe is quite frankly a beautiful player. His acceleration is off-the-charts, and his finishing keeps improving every year. He also happens to be a scouts’ wet dream.

He started off as a non-league player at AS Bondy, where his father was also a football coach. In 2013, AS Monaco came calling, and the rest as we know, is history. While most don’t know this, but Chelsea was the first major club to show express interest in Mbappe, when he was as young as 11.

But Kylian, happens to be the top 1% of the top 1%, a talent rarefied in their origins, and benefitted by the host of opportunities that surrounded him from a very young age. ( Father being a coach, daily access to disciplined football and the privilege of being scouted by Guy Hillion, Chelsea’s head scout, in France).

But Kylian happens to be the top 1% of the top 1%, a talent rarefied in their origins, and benefitted by the host of opportunities that surrounded him from a very young age.

What about the other 99.9% of talent?

Most football, globally, is played in semi-professional and amateur leagues. These leagues have minimal coverage, a very niche-local fan base and share a love for football, just football. What happens to such talent and how do we nurture them from the very beginning?

Most lower division clubs do not have access to trusted scouting data of foreign markets. How can they? they do not have owners with deep pockets, oil-treasures and foreign investment coming in. Budget concerns for lower division clubs:

• Extremely budgeted ticketing. For eg. to watch a Portuguese third division match, you’d have to shell out as high as 8€/game. But to watch a top 3 team in the premier division, the prices can start at 20€ and go as high as 60€/game, every week.
• Sponsorship challenges. Almost all lower division clubs rely on promoting local businesses. While this truly embodies the spirit of community building, this also means, that sponsorship volumes would be relatively much lower than higher division teams.
• Player transfers. Most player transfers in lower divisions are below 100,000€, a menial amount as compared to the millions spent in the top divisions in football

What do limited budgets do?

• Little/no investment technological advancements. As loved and globally followed football is, there is minimal data available on lower league teams. Clubs rely on the traditional pen & paper to collect, analyse and share information. Technological advancements and data collection tools are a commodity for the more elite clubs in the upper echelons of football.
• No access to trusted, international scouting data. Most scouting for lower division clubs happens within a one-hour driving distance from the grounds. Not every club has a full-fledged scouting unit, and can even deploy their coaches and club-staff for scouting purposes.
• Unable to enlist/buy players at the market value. Clubs rely on personal networks to sell their own players. This stops them from showcasing their own players to a wider range of clubs but also curtails the market value of these players. A limited number of buyers mean limited transfer-pricing options.
• Increased reliance on agents/intermediaries. Most lower division clubs now rely on the quality and size of the agents’ contact book. While this sounds convenient, according to a recent UEFA report, agents can charge commissions as high as 40% on transfers under 100,000€. An unusually high price to pay.

Little/no investment technological advancements. As loved and globally followed football is, there is minimal data available on lower league teams. Clubs rely on the traditional pen & paper to collect, analyse and share information. Technological advancements and data collection tools are a commodity for the more elite clubs in the upper echelons of football.

FIFA has been working extensively on bringing new regulations in the sport, limited the monetary and professional influence of intermediaries. Recent upheaval in Belgium, agent-disputes on player-ownership, financial fraud and tax evasion have increased the pressure on National Football Bodies to introduce transparency and fairness to the transfer market.

So how does a football club access trusted scouting, with worldwide coverage within a limited budget?

The answer is, athlead.

Bridging the gap between talented athletes and professional clubs

• At athlead, we provide trusted, scouted talent for clubs.
• Clubs can sign up for free, browse and access free reports, or subscribe, paying a minimal fee that lets them access player profiles, scouting reports and performance data in more detail.
• Our interviews state that most lower division clubs in Portugal and Germany pay 600€/month, on average, to freelance/full-time scouts.
  At athlead, by subscribing at a lesser cost/month, clubs can access talent across borders, scouted by trusted, verified-by-athlead scouts.
• Clubs can enlist their own players and showcase them to every club on the athlead platform, increasing their chances of being found.

We believe talent exists everywhere and with the right set of opportunities, it can come forth for the world to see.

Hence, athlead.