BRAND NEW COURSE -
AFCAS - OPPOSITION SCOUTING & TACTICAL ANALYSIS - MODULE 1
DEVELOP YOUR OPPOSITION SCOUTING & TACTICAL ANALYSIS SKILLS
Opposition scouting is much more than identifying a team's formation or describing what happened during a match.
A good opposition scout must be able to observe, recognise patterns, understand tactical behaviours, identify strengths and weaknesses, and communicate those observations clearly and accurately.
This course is designed to develop those skills through an interactive, practical approach to opposition scouting and tactical analysis.
Rather than simply teaching you how to produce an opposition scout report, the course is designed to help you develop as a scout. Through a series of opposition tactical scouting tasks and multiple-choice video assessments, you will repeatedly analyse what you see, make decisions and assess different tactical situations.
GO BEYOND THE SURFACE OF TACTICAL ANALYSIS
Many scouting courses only skim the surface of tactical analysis.
This course goes much deeper.
You will learn to break down both individual player and team performance across different tactical phases of the game, developing your ability to recognise why something is happening, not simply describe what is happening.
The interactive nature of the course is designed to enhance your observation skills, tactical understanding, decision-making and ability to identify relevant information.
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?
Throughout the course, you will develop your ability to:
- Identify team formations and recognise changes in team shape.
- Develop effective observation techniques for opposition scouting.
- Understand how to prepare for an opposition match.
- Analyse tactical behaviours and patterns of play.
- Assess individual player roles within a team's tactical structure.
- Identify strengths, weaknesses and potential areas to exploit.
- Create clear and informative opposition scout reports.
- Clearly communicate your observations and assessments.
- Use diagrams to accurately illustrate tactical observations.
- Distinguish between relevant information and unnecessary detail.
- Develop a more structured and professional approach to opposition scouting.
MODULE 1 – ASSESSING THE TEAM IN POSSESSION
Module 1 focuses specifically on assessing the opposition when they are in possession during the build-up phase.
You will examine how a team attempts to progress the ball from the goalkeeper and defensive areas, including both short build-up, direct build-up and build-up during open play.
This is achieve with the use of video examples and theory, and opposition scouting assessment video tasks.
Example Video
COURSE WRITTEN BY PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL COACH & OPPOSITION SCOUT – GED SEARSON
With 31 years’ coaching experience and over 17 years working in professional football, Ged Searson has extensive experience in opposition scouting, match analysis and recruitment.
His opposition scouting career began in EFL League 2 with Barnet FC, before moving to Gillingham FC and then West Ham United, where he worked during their Championship promotion-winning season and spent a further two seasons in the Premier League.
Ged has also worked as Chief Scout & Opposition Scout at Grimsby Town FC, helping the club achieve promotion from the National League to the EFL, and as Chief Scout & Opposition Scout at Leyton Orient FC in League 2.
At international level, he was Chief Scout & Opposition Analyst for the Malawi National Team at AFCON 2022 in Cameroon, helping the team reach the Last 16 of the tournament.
With 7 years experience of teaching scouts, this course has been written from genuine professional opposition scouting experience - not just theory.
