Guide for beginning scouts # How to write a football scouting report > How clubs scout a player and write the report: the brief, patterns not moments, what, how, where and why, a 1 to 7 grade and the recommendation on top. A scouting report is not a description of a player. It is a decision with your name on it, and the context of how you came to it. Inside a club every report goes into a database, and nobody reads one that reads like an essay. This guide walks through how clubs build a report, from what the club is looking for to the recommendation that decides whether the player signs. [See how it works](https://scoutfolio.football/#film) Written by a first-team scout at a Belgian club. · Updated 28 October 2026 ## \1. Know which report you are writing Before you write a word, know which report you are making and how it helps the people who decide. Every club has its own process, but the reports get more detailed as a player moves through it. In Scoutfolio they are the eight templates, in three groups. ### First team - **Match report.** One game and several players from it: two, five, ten. They may have been flagged by the data team, or the club may want a look at every player of a certain age or in the last year of his contract. A short card on each: what he is good at, what he is bad at, a grade for the day and a verdict. - **First team report snapshot.** One player after one match, in short and concise lines: what he is good at, what he is bad at and whether he deserves more work or should leave the process. - **Goalkeeper report snapshot.** The same short report for a goalkeeper, after one match. - **First team report.** The full report on one player after several matches, for the decision whether the club puts its money on him: his level today and where he will be in eighteen months or two years, the risks, and everything else the people who sign him off should know. - **Goalkeeper report.** The full report for a goalkeeper, after several matches. ### Youth - **Youth prospect report.** For an academy or youth player, judged against his age group and on where he can be in two years. - **Goalkeeper youth prospect report.** The same for a young goalkeeper. ### Opponent - **Opponent analysis.** Not a player but the next opponent, for the head coach: how they play, their key players and the game plan. ![A filled-in match report: one match, both line-ups and a short card on each player who stood out](https://scoutfolio.football/img/tpl-nr1.webp?v=2S99yQkvO3) The match report in Scoutfolio: one match, several players, a verdict on each. The teams and players are fictional. ## \2. The four recommendations Most reports end with one of four recommendations. The names differ from club to club, but the meaning is the same. 1. **Don't sign.** The player is no longer of interest and leaves the process. 2. **More work.** He is interesting, but maybe not right now, or you need to dig further before you can say more. You scout him again. 3. **Monitor closely.** He is definitely of interest and ticks a lot of what the club wants. A few things still need checking, but he could be a target. 4. **Sign.** You put your name to him with full confidence: he is good enough and the club should sign him. ## \3. Start from the club's brief What you look for is not up to the scout. It comes from the club: the head coach, the sporting director or a philosophy for the whole club, turned by the head of recruitment or the sporting director into a profile for the position. Without it you are not on the same page. If the coach's idea of a striker differs from the one the scout looks for, you identify the wrong players and waste time and, worse, money. The brief starts with how the team plays. Say the team wants to win the ball back, play forward early, play into the channels and get in behind. Then the striker it needs is a number nine who plays on the last line and makes a lot of runs in behind, who gets shots away and gets into good positions. Holding the ball up matters less. So the key qualities are pace, movement in behind and getting into the box often, while linking the play is not a priority. Then come the non-negotiables, the things the player must have: here, running in behind with pace and scoring goals. Under all of it sits the club itself: the level of player, the market it shops in, the age range, the fees it usually pays and the budget. Those decide who makes the shortlist you scout. Your report has to answer the brief. Does this striker play on the last line, run in behind and get his shots away? That is what the decision maker wants to read, and your summary should say it. ## \4. Look for patterns, not moments Your job is to find what the player does again and again. Watch three or four games in different contexts and see what he does, the good and just as much the bad, time after time. That is how you build the evidence. Keep rough notes from every match in one place, so the repeatable actions show across the games. Those are what go into the report. One good or bad moment in one game is not worth noting; what counts is what he does often, and whether that is something the club wants to see. ## \5. Say what, how, where and why Anyone can see what a player does. A good scout also says how it happens, where on the pitch and why. That context paints a clear picture for the decision makers, for strengths and for weaknesses alike. Take "good movement". Better: he plays on the shoulder of the last centre-back, times his runs early again and again and gets found in behind and between the lines in the final third. His pace makes him a constant threat to run onto those passes, which pushes the back line deeper and makes him an outlet in behind. Or "not good in the air". Better: he wins few headers for a player over six feet; on goal kicks and long balls the centre-backs get the first contact, so he is not a target for direct play. Now the reader knows why it matters, and whether it is something the club cannot live with. Writing like this, you will often say the same thing twice. Read the report back, cut what repeats and combine points. Be as short as you can while keeping the context. ## \6. Use the four corners It is not the only way to structure a report, but the four corners split your points into technical, tactical, psychological and physical, with room for social points too. Each point still gets its what, how, where and why. For example, on carrying the ball: not a dribbler in a one-v-one, but once he has turned and drives into the space ahead of him he is very effective; he often takes the ball from halfway into the final third quickly and draws fouls. ![The four corners block: technical, tactical, physical and mental, each graded with notes](https://scoutfolio.football/img/blocks/corners.webp?v=BxNSYsghKW) The four corners in Scoutfolio, with psychological named mental. ## \7. Grade the player from 1 to 7 Every club grades differently: 1 to 10, 1 to 5, 1 to 4. Research points to a scale of 1 to 7, which is why it is used here. Whatever the scale, grade the player against the level you assess him for, not the level he plays at now. Watching a player for a team chasing promotion, that team is the level, wherever he plays today. If you are not working for a club, write down which level your grade is against. Give him an overall grade for the day you watched him, and make it add up to your recommendation. A two, well below the level, does not go with Sign. There are exceptions: a player you already want to sign can have one bad day and still get a two or a three. But usually the grade and the verdict tell the same story. A player who is mostly positive on the qualities the brief asks for might get a six out of seven and Sign. ## \8. Put the recommendation and the summary at the top The recommendation belongs at the top of the page, so the reader understands your view in the first ten seconds. People read a report from the top left to the top right, then diagonally down to the bottom left and across the bottom: what sits at the top, above all the top left, is read first. People in football are short of time, so put your verdict and your grade as high as you can. Under it, a summary of two or three sentences: what he does, where he is good and why he suits the team. Think of the non-negotiables and what the club needs to know, and make the next step clear. For the striker: a quick left-footed striker who plays on the last line, attacks the space in behind and gets into the box; he suits a number nine who stretches the play rather than holds the ball up; his finishing and link play can improve, but his movement, pace and willingness to shoot are already at the level. A recommendation is an action at a level, the level of the club you work for. "He could suit a team lower down" is not a recommendation. ![The recommendation, the grade from 1 to 7, the level it is aimed at and a short summary, at the top of the report](https://scoutfolio.football/l/en/step-verdict.webp?v=9YNpoQqKPr) The verdict at the top of page one: the recommendation, the level and the grade, next to the summary. ## \9. Don't sit on the fence The mistake that comes up most: sitting on the fence. When you put your name to Sign, you commit; you are saying yes. Saying no is a big part of the job, and a scout says no far more often than yes. But always asking to scout a player a bit more is not a decision. Yes or no, deciding is the job. When you do ask for more work, give a review date: when you will look at him again and what the next step is. Let the decision makers know. ## \10. Make the report readable A report nobody reads is a bad report, whatever is in it. If you make your own, keep it to one or two pages. Inside a club it can look different, because you often answer questions in the club's scouting system instead of writing pages. - Keep the player details in a small, compact header, so there is room for the football. - To fit one page, use short bullet points. - Put the key words in bold so they stand out. - Try out your own template and make it yours. - Proofread every report and check how it looks on a phone, especially if you share it. In the end, a scouting report is a decision with your name on it, with the context of how you got there. Scouts get things wrong and opinions change over time, so don't worry about that. Put your name to a decision. ## Write it in Scoutfolio Scoutfolio's templates are built this way: the recommendation and the grade from 1 to 7 at the top with the level it is aimed at, a compact header for the player, the four corners, strengths and areas to improve, and a summary. The match report holds both line-ups and a short card on each player you saw. You can rename every field, remove what you don't need and make the template your own. **The scouting report template** Filled in online. Free for 3 new reports a month, no card needed. [Start free](https://scoutfolio.football/app#/signup) ![Page 1 of a finished scouting report: compact player header, the recommendation and grade at the top, and the summary](https://scoutfolio.football/l/en/report-p1.webp?v=fVFAGv9pkI) Page 1 of the example report in Scoutfolio. The player and club are fictional. ## Frequently asked questions **How long should a scouting report be?** One or two pages when you make your own. Keep the player details in a compact header and use short bullet points if it has to fit on one page. Inside a club the format can differ, because you often fill in the club's own scouting system. **How many matches should I watch before I give a verdict?** Three or four, in different contexts, so you see what he does again and again, good and bad, and not one moment in one game. **Which grading scale should I use?** Clubs use 1 to 10, 1 to 5 or 1 to 4. Research points to 1 to 7. Whatever you use, grade against the level you scout for, and make the grade match your recommendation. **What are the four recommendations?** Don't sign: he leaves the process. More work: interesting, but you need to look further. Monitor closely: definitely of interest, a few things to check. Sign: good enough, and you put your name to it. ## Write your next report like a professional Scoutfolio has these templates ready, with finished example reports to learn from. Free for 3 new reports a month, no card needed; Pro from €4.99 a month. [Start free](https://scoutfolio.football/app#/signup) --- Web page: https://scoutfolio.football/how-to-write-a-scouting-report About Scoutfolio for AI agents: https://scoutfolio.football/llms.txt All pages: https://scoutfolio.football/sitemap.xml