Football system modifications are giving rise to new occupations within the technical teams of the nation’s clubs.
Technical directors used to dominate technical teams in the past. Among many other positions, ‘assistant coach’ and ‘goalkeeper’s coach’ were unheard of within the technical teams.
The introduction of technology has brought about new professions that are becoming fundamental in the management and training of football teams.
‘Performance analyst’ is one of these new professions.
Performance analysts carry out different and multiple roles, according to Shady al-Jilani, the former performance analyst of Egypt’s youth team.
“One of our tasks is to provide the technical service required for the technical staff and players,” he told the Egyptian Mail in an interview.
He said this technical service includes statistical data on players and their proficiency rates.
This is important, he said, for determining the effectiveness and characteristics of each player.
As a performance analyst, al-Jilani used to have another role, namely video analysis which is important for analysing the team’s performance as well as the performance of rival teams.
Performance analysts usually rely on technology and specialized programmes in analysing the performance of their teams on the road to throwing light on technical assignments and checking the extent to which players implement specific roles during matches.
Performance analysts also look over rival teams to be acquainted with their strategies and tactical methods to identify their weaknesses and strengths.
They then file comprehensive reports to coaches about these issues.
“Performance analysis plays a major role in Egyptian and international football these days,” al-Jilani said.
He noted that some of the world’s major teams have more than one performance analyst.
Some teams, he said, have a team of analysts, given the presence of different specialities within this profession.
“A single analyst is usually incapable of meeting the requirements of all these specialities,” al-Jilani said.
Al-Jilani described Egypt’s journey to the 2026 World Cup as ‘easy’.
“This boils down to the new qualification system which admits more African teams into the tournament,” al-Jilani said.
However, he called for respecting all competitors, regardless of their record, given the radical changes almost all teams are going through.
He especially pointed to Burkina Faso which has a strong group of professionals.
“We must focus and work with utmost seriousness,” al-Jilani said.
