Footballer

Professional footballers play for their club or, occasionally, for their country in matches at home, away, and abroad.

The Work

You could be:

• training for much of each day, combining exercise routines with ball practice


• discussing strategy with your team coach and other players, sometimes using videos of other matches to see how others play


• playing regular matches for your team, competing with other teams in your league, both on your home ground and on other teams’ grounds


• travelling with your club, or perhaps your national team, to away matches, possibly all over the world


• if successful, becoming a celebrity, meeting press, meeting fans, attending events.

Conditions

• You would run the risk of physical injury when training or playing.


• Working hours would be irregular, often including evenings and usually weekends.


• You would have to turn out to play several times a week, in all weathers.


• You might have to play when in pain from minor injuries.
• You would travel to fixtures, possibly abroad, and sometimes be away from home overnight.

Getting In

• If you have enough talent, a football club scout may ‘spot’ you while you are at school.
  A club can normally register you for coaching and training when you are 11; at 16 you can become a professional.


• The Scottish Football Youth Initiative Programme aims to develop young players at age levels 11 through to 16/17. The SFA website has more details.


• The Scottish Football Association (SFA) runs summer courses for young footballers.


• You might train at the facilities provided by one of the professional clubs through their youth programme.


• Some universities, including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Robert Gordon, Stirling and Strathclyde offer sports bursaries or scholarships to help with costs.


• The Scottish Institute of Sport at Stirling University runs a high performance coaching scheme for talented young people.


• If you make a successful start, you might be able to get funding from the Scottish Institute of Sport through their Athlete Support funding, normally distributed through the national governing body.


• The Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association (SFPA) advises you not to sign a contract with a club until you have left school, as it is best to stay independent until then.


• The SPFA also advises you to qualify or train for a job outside football before you become a professional to move to when your footballing career is over.


• You must be very fit.

What Does It Take?

You need to be:

• very talented at football


• motivated and ambitious


• competitive


• a good team player


• able to take criticism and act on it


• committed to improving your skills


• patient – you might have long journeys to fixtures


• able to deal with stress.

Training

• Training is on-the-job.


• You could work towards Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Level 3 in Coaching (Football).


• You would train to improve the technical, tactical, physiological and mental aspects of your sport, as well as your lifestyle management, health and safety and communication skills.


• You can train through a Modern Apprenticeship.


• To register for a Modern Apprenticeship in Achieving Excellence in Sports (Football) you have to sign full time as a player for a senior club recognised by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). You will play for that club and must show the potential to progress into the adult pathway within the club.

Getting On

42 clubs compete in Scotland - 12 in the Scottish Premier League and 10 in each of the 3 Divisions of the Scottish Football League.

• As your playing improves, you might get a transfer to a club higher in the league. This is arranged through a financial transaction - the second club "buys" you from the first.


• As your career declines you may move to a lower level club.


• Your career could end at any time, through injury, because your performance level falls, or just because someone better comes along.


• You must plan for a second career, by gaining qualifications and by making contacts.


• If you want to stay in sport, your second career might be in sports management, coaching or sports journalism.

Pay

The figures below are only a guide. Actual salaries vary widely, depending on:

• your ability and potential


• the size of club you work for


• the average takings at the turnstiles.

More Information

In some countries women can play football professionally, but in Scotland they play at amateur level. There are development programmes for girls under 13, under 15 and under 19. Scottish Women's Football has leagues at open age group under 13 and under 15 and under 17.

Addresses

The following organisation(s) may be able to provide further information.