We recently sat down with the technical director at FC Midtjylland, Kristian Kjær, to talk recruitment strategies, choosing key markets, and how Eyeball boosts time and cost-efficiency in the youth scouting game.
Here are some key takeaways from the interview:
The importance of a video + data strategy for youth recruitment
There are only a few clubs in the world that can afford to have people everywhere. So from a coverage point of view, Eyeball makes it easy to access games – for instance in Scandinavia or Africa. That is extremely important for us. We can be more time-efficient but also cost-efficient. And get a very good overview of our important markets for our strategy.
Having an international mindset for recruitment
Of course our aim is always to find and develop the players locally and regionally, but we also need to combine that with a European mindset and African mindset – when it comes to trying to identify the profiles that fit our style of play.
Using Eyeball to get the most out of markets
We put a lot of energy into choosing our key markets. In some markets, we have simply told our market scouts…to be experts in the insights Eyeball provides – understanding the structure of specific leagues, and then making sure that they watch games on a regular basis.
What was your first reaction to Eyeball?
My first reaction was that you brought something new to the table. That made our choice quite easy to make because we will have access to that age group and we cannot find that anywhere else. We both need to win titles, but also need to develop players from an early stage and bring them to the best leagues in the world.
What you guys provide is quite cost-efficient but also time-efficient. I think Eyeball is the best we have in the market right now
Watch the full interview with Kristian Kjær: