Scouting in the age of AI: Why human intuition still matters
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
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The UEFA Elite Scout Programme welcomes 32 participants from around the world to explore the role's modern challenges and learn how to optimise talent identification in an era of data and technology.
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Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept in football; it’s here, shaping how clubs analyse performance, manage contracts and identify talent. But can AI truly change the game? Or will the people who learn to master it be the ones driving transformation?
This question sits at the heart of the UEFA Elite Scout Programme, which took place last week in the Olympic capital. The three-month course, run by the UEFA Academy, is designed for experienced scouts, coaches and former players. Featuring online masterclasses as well as in-person lessons in London, Lisbon and Switzerland (Nyon and Lausanne), the programme combines theory with practical experience to prepare students for the future of scouting.
Participants, including former internationals Bafétimbi Gomis, Bernard Mendy and Maxime Chanot, were welcomed to the home of Swiss top-division club Lausanne Sport by sporting director Stéphane Henchoz, a former Liverpool and Switzerland defender. The club, currently competing in the UEFA Conference League, provided a real-world backdrop for discussions on recruitment challenges and how technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), is reshaping the way scouts identify and evaluate talent.
The human challenge behind scouting
Session director Luís Campos, former scout and tactical analyst for Real Madrid and currently football advisor for Paris Saint-Germain, summed up the toughest challenge scouts face – not simply spotting technical ability but predicting how a player will fit into a team’s identity and culture. It's a skill that can’t easily be replaced by technology.
"The hardest part of scouting is projecting a player’s potential within our environment," Campos said. "It’s not only about what they can do on the pitch today, but whether their qualities align with the philosophy and needs of my club."
Campos is one of the three session directors with Les Reed and Paul Mitchell, who led the first two sessions.
AI: A powerful enabler
"AI is part of our daily business. It’s not even a question," says Marco Otero, FIFA technical advisor. "Everything that is measurable is faster when done with AI than by hand. For big and smaller clubs, it helps to be faster."
From automated video analysis to predictive modelling, AI can accelerate processes that once took hours or days. For agents, it’s equally transformative. Yago Rama, a football agent and UEFA Player Agent Programme alumnus, explains: "I started to use AI in different ways: finding jurisprudence, comparing contracts, gathering information from different markets. It makes my work more efficient."
The limits of technology
Yet, despite its speed and precision, AI has boundaries.
"Being a good scout or coach is an art. Even if data says this or that player is perfect, sometimes intuition is more powerful," Otero explains. "AI today can only measure what is binary: ones and zeros – but football is full of nuance. Potential isn’t a number; it’s intention. And intention lives in the mind of the player. AI cannot ask: What was your idea? That’s where human insight remains irreplaceable and AI is a tool to be more efficient."
Rama agrees: "AI won’t change football, but the people who know how to use it will. For scouts, the challenge is mastering both worlds: sharpening your eye and intuition while leveraging AI to make your work smarter.
"When you analyse a game with AI and you’re looking for a right-back, the data might tell you who fits the role. But your job is to go beyond the numbers, spot the player who isn’t shining because of tactical instructions, yet has the qualities to excel. That’s potential, and only human insight can see it."
Coaches’ perspective: efficiency, not essence
A similar approach goes for coaches: AI is a time-saver, not a game-changer. Damien Della Santa, who has worked as first-team coach at Olympique Lyonnais and OGC Nice, puts it bluntly:
"Computers didn’t change football, and AI won’t either. The business evolves, but the essence of the sport stays the same."
For him, technology is about freeing time for what matters most:
"I use AI to save time and focus on being more human. If I spend less time summarising data, I can spend more time with the player on the pitch."
But he warns against blind reliance:
"The big danger is to say, 'AI says.' AI cannot be creative. It can only reproduce what already exists. Creativity, the spark that changes a game, must come from the human mind."
Preparing for the future
The UEFA Elite Scout Programme recognises the need for a balance between technology and human qualities. It equips scouts with the tools to harness AI while preserving the art of talent identification. Because in football, as in life, technology can enhance, but never replace, the human touch.
By the end of the course, participants gain:
- A deeper understanding of the football ecosystem and its governance.
- Mastery of key principles of scouting and match observation, including talent identification, analysis and recruitment management.
- The ability to produce various types of match reports – from text to animations and videos.
- Confidence in using technologies to monitor football data and statistics, while discovering the latest innovations in this fast-changing domain.
About the UEFA Academy
Building on the professional excellence UEFA has established throughout its history and the learning initiatives developed over the last decade, the UEFA Academy inspires the education of individuals and organisations to continuously elevate the game.
Since its foundation, the Academy has trained more than 4,000 graduates from 145 nations around the world, offering 62 learning initiatives each year.