Hear from professional Analysts and Head Coaches to learn how they incorporate data into opposition analysis. As more teams across the world begin to access data on their games, it’s becoming an essential tool in modern football. Use this course as a perfect entry into this world, learning from those who use it daily. Build a data-driven opposition report to take away some key principles to be applied at almost any level or use it to better understand how to progress in the football industry.
HOMECOURSESUsing Data In Opposition Scouting & Analysis
Using Data In Opposition Scouting & Analysis
Full
Syllabus
10+ hrs
Duration
Bespoke Course
Feedback Available
Included
Certificate
Using Data In Opposition
Scouting & Analysis
Use real-life professional data sets from StatsBomb, Wyscout & Stats Perform to join the growing number of Analysts, Coaches & Clubs using data to better understand the opposition. Learn how professional clubs incorporate data into their reports by following an FA Cup winning campaign match-by-match, with a series of tasks designed by professional analysts.
Club’s staff who have taken our courses before
Clubs/Federations
Featured Course Contributor:
Ross Mitchell - First Team Analyst, Celtic FC
You'll learn from:
✅ Video interviews with professional Analysts, Head Coaches & Sporting Directors
✅ Tasks to profile teams and players with stats using professional match data
✅ Exclusive articles and case studies on the inner workings of professional clubs
✅ Feedback from a Professional Analyst
Provide valuable insights for football clubs and seperate what's interesting from what's useful
Highlight opposition strengths, weaknesses and common patterns of play with data
Compare and contrast team styles and key individual players
Draw basic charts & tables like professional analysts and include them in a report
Structure a professional looking report with key sections
Full Course Description
Click to expand details
COURSE MODULES
Get to know your course tutors, and complete your first tasks and watch some introductory videos on major data providers.
We’ll learn how to highlight individual players and their key tendencies. Using Win Factory we can produce pass maps from Kevin de Bruyne & David Silva and see some key events on video.
Investigate the ways data can help the pre-game opposition analysis process and learn some of data’s weaknesses to be aware of.
Learn the importance of the coach-analyst relationship and why being a strong data analyst is only half of what’s needed to succeed in the game. We’ll also complete a small task showing how we might educate a non-data coach on an important concept.
You’ll be introduced to some ‘analytics 101’ concepts like ‘per 90 stats’, and see what 15 years of data analysis in football has taught us.
Compare Premier League strikers and wingers using data from Opta, and produce some comparison radar charts. See the outcome of these comparisons on video.
Investigate how data can be used to prepare for set-pieces. Use real Premier League data from Opta & StatsBomb to prepare to face Bournemouth! For the first time you’ll also access and use the Win Factory platform to produce some data analytics images.
We’re facing Chelsea in the final. Using the information we’ve learned on the course so far, it’s time to flip the process and see how we might be able to score goals against Chelsea and exploit their weaknesses!
This time it’s Sheffield United. Using Wyscout data, we’ll learn how to benchmark their tendencies moving the ball through certain zones and investigate some interesting passing patterns from their centre-backs.
Learn about how, when and why to present our findings to integrate them into a professional level pre-game workflow.
As we prepare to face Man City, we’ll look at passing network charts, how to read them and create some key takeaways. We’ll also use Win Factory to produce some heat maps and be introduced to a potential pitfall showing why we must always support data with video if possible!
Send us your work throughout the course, have a professional analyst review it and offer feedback before you receive your certificate of completion!
How strong are Man City, and what makes them so good at creating chances and scoring goals? We’ll answer these questions using data from Wyscout & Opta.
Login details for The Win Factory are provided to use throughout the course.
Featured
COURSE TUTORS
Ross Mitchell
Ross Mitchell is the First Team Opposition Analyst at Celtic FC, a top Champions League club. Prior to Celtic, he was working for the Scottish National Team youth squads and Middlesbrough FC in the English Championship.
Even more exciting, and a sign of the power of the APFA's education system, Ross took our Opposition Analysis course and was issued his certificate of completion in April 2020. Ross has now come full-circle, and is considered an industry leader in Opposition Analysis and we're delighted to have him help us deliver education!
Marc O'Neill
Marc O'Neill is a First-Team Assistant Coach-Analyst at Columbus Crew in the USA. An MLS Championship winning Analyst, Marc has also spent time with Hibs in Scotland & the English Premier League's Brighton & Hove Albion.
Oliver Gage
Oliver Gage is a Sporting Director Consultant, most recently working with USL Championship side Loudoun United Football Club. Gage joined Loudoun United after serving as Director of Football at SixFive Sports, where he led football strategy for two Canadian Premier League clubs. Prior to that, he spent four years as Director of Football for the CPL, playing a key role in the league’s launch. He has over a decade of experience, including roles with Houston Dynamo FC as Head of Analysis and Technical Recruitment, and with the University of Virginia Cavaliers during their 2014 NCAA Division I Championship run.
Oliver also launched an analysis education platform for players and coaches named CoachTech which ceased operations as he joined the APFA.
This Course is Powered by The Win Factory
Throughout the duration of the course, you'll get full access to The Win Factory, a powerful data platform built for football analysis. With over 300+ men's and women's leagues covered, it offers one of the most extensive and accessible datasets available online, making it the perfect tool for developing your analytical skills in a real-world context.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Anybody who’s interested in using data in opposition reporting. The course has been tested and taken by professional Coaches & Analysts as well as those aspiring to gain a paid role in the industry. It’s suitable for coaches or analysts in US colleges, academies, semi-pro and professional teams. It’s also a great way to understand actionable insights vs what looks interesting but offers little value.
The course is online and on-demand so you can learn on your own schedule and at your own pace. All the course content is embedded in webpages, so as long as you have an internet connection you can access it.
A combination of the APFA ambassadors and course contributors. Everybody who had input to the course has worked as a professional Analyst or Head Coach.
Most people take 15-20 hours to complete the course, but you can go at your own pace.
Your final report will be reviewed by a professional Analyst. The APFA has an extensive network of Analysts who want to help others progress their career and upgrade their skills.
No. Although the course could easily be split into different levels, the APFA has reviewed this strategy and it’s commonly used to boost income for companies rather than add learning value. This is against the core beliefs of the APFA.
Course fees help fund the APFA to give back the football community. They help us power the website, put on networking and career events, host webinars and fund opportunities for under-represented groups. The APFA also donates to charitable causes.
No. This course requires downlading data, completing tasks in Excel and other software and building an opposition analysis report. You might be able to do it on a tablet with a larger screen, but a laptop would be best.
When you’re ready, purchase the course and you’ll receive a confirmation email with access details. The course will also be available via your membership account which you either already have, or you’ll create during the checkout process.