Kick-start Segmentation Guide for Football Clubs
Reading time:
9 mins
Roberto has spent over five years immersed in match and performance analysis. He led Torino FC’s youth video analysis department, worked as U20 match analyst, and now trains the next generation of analysts in Turin University’s sport analytics master’s program.
His experience bridges hands-on work and education. From cloud-based video sharing and live streaming to evaluating youth talent beyond raw stats, Roberto shows how technology, flexibility, and qualitative insight can transform a club’s analysis.
In this interview, he shares:
Being highly technological and flexible, no doubt. As performance/match analyst you have to be available for the requests of the head coach, no matter the tactical system or formation, you need to be reliable and you need to handle many tech tools: tactical cameras, data analysis softwares, video analysis tools. Being high tech is not an option. I myself I watch everyday phones, tablets, pc and cameras video reviews. I'm obsessed with tech devices.
That's a tough question. I would say that many scouts or analysts rely too much on the physical attributes and on unnecessary stats, stats that in 90% of the case are not equivalent or comparable to your specific youth championship. Qualitative analysis should be the main driver, videos of the player in many different situations are the most reliable way to evaluate them. Also, sometimes a player prevent a pass or a threat simply by his positioning. That is crucial, if you see a player that preempts successfully a movement, that's the guy. Non possession phase should have a bigger impact on the choice.
The most important workflow I had the chance to speed up was the creation of a cloud storage to share videos and reports immediately after the match with coaches, staff and directors. That became crucial and essential.
Another very useful system was the launch of a private streaming channel in which scouts, directors and coaches that couldn't attend a specific match, could see it live at home or abroad while watching players, and even intervene during half-time with advices or reccomendations on the lineup. All the areas of the club were positively and permanently affected by both systems.
This one is a great reminder that analysis is not a file or a stat but it’s a service. Roberto emphasizes flexibility, responsiveness, and tech literacy as the core habits of a useful analyst. Not someone who just builds charts, but someone who’s ready when the coach needs them. I especially appreciated his take on youth scouting: too often, we confuse what we can measure with what actually matters. Positioning, anticipation, and decision-making, these are the signals that count. His workflow tips on cloud sharing and remote match streaming are also simple but powerful reminders of what it means to operationalize analysis. For anyone working at the intersection of video, talent, and tech, there’s plenty of value packed in here.
