When I posted my most recent blog, I had no idea the world would be coming to a halt shortly thereafter. I can’t even begin to express the things I’d do to have football back in my life (Nevermind that we just skipped over the first weekend of March Madness and would be in crunch time before NBA/NHL playoffs, too). Nonetheless, since digital content is more important now than ever, I’m here to deliver another blog about an idea that could be utilized now. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if a director of scouting from an elite Premier League side reached out to me after reading this blog. This is an idea I’ve had for years and I can’t believe I didn’t think to write a blog about it until now.
I’ve played FIFA for quite some time, likely similar to most followers of LADS. In fact, the reason I support Tottenham is simply because I randomly played with them in FIFA and just grew to like them over time as I recognized more players. I’ve played quite a bit of career mode over the years - it’s fun to build a successful club from a lower league and discover some of the youngest/best potential players in the world.
Whenever I start my career mode, there is a website I visit that has detailed statistics for every player on the game, including one crucial stat to the success of your team: potential rating. FUTWIZ (you’re welcome for the reference elite scouts and FIFA players alike) puts together a database of every player in the game and lets you filter by various skills. One might argue that FIFA collectively has more access to scouting resources than any single club and that makes me beg the question - why do teams not use FIFA’s player rankings to formulate their scouting plans?
Using FIFA for Scouting
Now I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous - the likes of Real Madrid or Manchester Untied logging onto a FIFA statistic database to start scouting the future faces of their clubs. However, how could it hurt as A resource, not THE resource? The FIFA staff scouts every player in the world objectively - there’s no bias based on a player’s current club or country. Thus, how could FIFA be distorting any rankings at your expense or benefit for a rival club?
When September hits and the new FIFA game comes out, every team in the world should be going onto the FUTWIZ link I shared above and reviewing the top players in the world at whichever positions they need to fill. That’s not to say you need to just scout and purchase every player on FIFA’s list, but it would at the very least allow you to have more potentially elite players on your scouting radar.
For all I know, clubs around the world are already using this website and FIFA to help add prospects to their scouting radars. If they’re not, they really need to start reading more blogs on the LADS website because us writers have great ideas that could make you billion$.
Author: Living in Southern California, Robert Sweeney has been a fan of soccer since he played as a young child. Since then, he’s become a diehard Tottenham and US National Team fan. Rob enjoys writing about the impact soccer has had on his life in hopes that it betters others as well. Twitter: @robsweeney11