SciSports platform special: FC Augsburg’s special relationship

First of all, there is the small geographic distance between Germany and Austria. Secondly, you see that Austria differentiates themselves from neighboring countries France, Switzerland and the Netherlands by having a shared history and having the same first-language and culture as Germany. German is also an official language in Switzerland, but they also have other important official languages such as French and Italian. If we look at the national team of Austria, we see that 12 internationals are active in the German Bundesliga. This also creates a positive affection to the German Bundesliga for Austrian players.

A minimal geographic- and cultural distance helps a player to adapt to his new environment as quick as possible. This is because it prevents language and/or cultural barriers. Preventing these barriers is crucial for the player to reach the same level of performance in his new environment. With this knowledge, it is understandable why Austria provides most of the ‘foreign’ players in the Bundesliga.

FC Augsburg

With the information that we have just gained, we understand why FC Augsburg has 4 Austrian players in their squad. Before we start looking for interesting Austrian players for FC Augsburg, we first need to analyse the quality of the current squad.

• The average SciSkill Score from the “Best 11” is 83.6 (Deviation 75.5 – 92.3)
• The average SciSkill Potential score from the “most talented 11” is 94.2 (Deviation 89.4 – 102.2)

We will now compile three shortlists with interesting Austrian players for FC Augsburg based on the SciSkill. To compile these shortlists, we used our data-driven scouting platform. With SciSports’ platform we were able to find, compare and check more than 90.000 active football players in over 240 football leagues around the world. We used the ‘search wizard’ (this functionality makes it possible to perform player searches automatically based on your criteria) to compile a quick list with interesting players.

Shortlist 1: First-team players

• SciSkill Score between 70 and 90
• Negative SciSkill Development
• Nationality: Austria

This first shortlist contains players that would be of direct value in the first team of FC Augsburg. In order to provide a list of feasible high rated players, we added a negative SciSkill Development as criterion. A negative SciSkill development can be caused by underperformance on both team and individual level, injuries, lack of playing time or a transfer to a lower league and/or club.

Shortlist 2: Young prospects

• SciSkill Potential +80
• SciSkill score <75
• Age <21
• Nationality: Austria
• Excluding: “Big Five” leagues

Although more than 40 players met the selected criteria of the second short list, we only present the first 5 players ranked on their SciSkill Score. All these players have a SciSkill Potential score of at least 80. The players that met the criteria will be of value for FC Augsburg in the future. To ensure a list of Austrian talents that are feasible for FC Augsburg we included the following criteria: current SciSkill Score <75 and the exclusion of talents that already play in one of the “Big Five” leagues.

Shortlist 3: High risers

• Age <19
• SciSkill Development “Descending”
• Nationality: Austria

The third and last shortlist includes five Austrian teenagers that have experienced the biggest SciSkill Development. This is an interesting feature to flag players that are experiencing a quick development (at a young age). A strong increase in SciSkill scores can be caused by playing more matches than before, great individual/team performances, or by playing at a higher league/club. Due to their young age there is a high chance that they will continue their growth. With these easy to use filter tools, we helped FC Augsburg in their first screening in a player database with almost 90.000 players. We advise them to give their video scout the task to take a look at these rising teenagers.

The fictive search above highlights how easy it is to find interesting (in this case Austrian) players by using the functionalities of the SciSports platform. SciSports’ platform provides unique club-specific filter tools that allow football clubs to identify the players that best suit their needs. Looking for a talented central defender with an expiring contract? You can identify interesting prospects that fit your criteria with a few clicks on our platform.

With the availability of future and historic insights, download functions, shortlists and cutting edge visualisations, SciSports’ platform is the ultimate platform to enrich your current workflow.