How to Create a Football/Soccer CV:
Homie, how’s your week going? Hope you’re grinding and keeping a laser focus on those goals you set out to achieve!
One of the most common questions I get every week is “how can I get a football trial at a higher level” or “how to get up the ranks in football?”
First off, there is no single, simple answer to these questions.
Of course, we all want to make it to that pro level and keep pushing for higher levels every season, but the reality is that it depends on several factors…
These include: your own individual performance at your current level ; if there actually is a need for players in your specific position from higher level clubs ; and so many other things.
The truth is, getting noticed and pushing up is hard!
That’s the nature of football, there’s loads of talented players fighting for those same opportunities that you want.
So how can you stand out?
Like I always say, the first thing is to take care of yourself first and make yourself the best and “shiniest asset” you can become.
Make sure you’re consistently training (on the pitch and in the gym), recovering properly (sleep, stretching, breath work) and eating right (according to your goals and training).
Discipline is the foundation of becoming a better footballer: one good day adds up to a good week, which adds up to a good month, which adds up to a great season.
If you’re doing well on the pitch, you’ve already done the majority of the work!
If you want to take football seriously and chase that professional contract, you need to realize sooner rather than later that you are like a business.
Like I said, you first make sure you’re the most valuable asset possible (through the variables you can control).
Second, you need to learn how to sell yourself to clubs and show the value you can bring to them as a player, or they most likely won’t give you an opportunity.
When it comes to contacting new teams, especially at higher levels, that’s where a good football CV is essential to increase your chances of getting recruited!
1- What is a Football CV ?
I say it all the time, a CV and highlight video are the two most important elements when looking to contact new teams.
A football CV is a one-page thorough breakdown of your playing history, collective and individual achievements, and overall profile as a player.
In other words, a CV is just like a landing page for a business: you should “sell” your services and make your perceived image very good.
Your goal is for the person reading the CV – a coach or sporting director for instance – to be impressed and want to see you play in front of their eyes.
Your video and CV are almost like the appetizer before the main meal.
Like we were talking about, sending out your CV to clubs along with a highlight video is one of the best ways to get trials and hopefully contracts.
If you want to take football seriously, you need to make it a priority to make your own football CV.
Never solely rely on getting scouted because you’re performing well.
You need to be proactive!
2- Why you need a football CV as a footballer
It’s pretty obvious…
Which professional coach would offer you a trial (let alone a contract), if they have no clue about your basic attributes and past experience?
Think about it: let’s say you’re a 22 year-old football player playing for a 5th division club in Germany.
Maybe your goal is to sign your first professional contract within the next year…
As the end of the season closes in, you decide to contact teams playing in 1st and 2nd Division of Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia, looking for opportunities.
If you just send a cold email to the coach or sporting director from the 1st or 2nd division club asking for a trial without providing any background information on yourself, what do you think will happen?
You can rest assured that your email is getting deleted immediately.
Not only is it a lack of respect for the coach’s or sporting director’s time, it’s unprofessional.
Like I always say, if you want to become a professional footballer, you need to act like one in every aspect of your life.
And that starts with showing respect to people off the field.
Now, on the flip side, if you sent a short email briefly presenting yourself and where you currently play, mentioning that your goal is to push up to the 3rd division for the next season and saying you’ve attached your full CV and highlight video…
How much better do you think it would come across from the coach’s point of view?
This allows them to easier assess you as a player and will help you give off a professional first impression, which means it will be much more likely for you to get a trial.
3- How to Create a Football CV:
Let’s break down a few easy steps you can take today to make your own CV and improve your chances of getting trials and contracts at higher levels:
As you’ll see, it’s not too complicated, simplicity is key!
The goal is to make it easy for the reader to get all the information they need quickly and easily.
To start:
Open a new blank document:
Word, Pages or a Google document.
Step 1 – Include Contact Information
This is the single most important information you need to include on your CV.
If the coach or sporting director likes what they see and wants to bring you in for a training session or trial, they need to know how to contact you easily.
What I like to do is to put my full name, phone number and email address at the top corner of the CV in bold.
Again, you want it to stick out and make it super easy for teams to contact you.
Now, again, you want to be professional here…
I see so many football CVs out there coming from ridiculous email addresses like ronaldosniper@gmail.com or footy4life@yahoo.com.
I love the enthusiasm and passion there, but come on…
Be professional and have a simple email address, ideally just your firstname.lastname@gmail.com.
Step 2 – Personal Photo
Secondly, in the other top corner, include a high-quality photo of yourself.
Now of course, this should go without saying, but the photo should be of you in a “football context,” wearing your team’s jersey.
Please make it look professional!
Don’t put a picture of you holding a beer in your hand having a night out on Saturday with the boys!
If you were to apply for a regular job, you would probably put a clean photo of yourself wearing a suit as a guy or a skirt/dress as a female.
So…
Since you’re looking for a pro contract, do the same!
Get a clean photo of yourself taken with your club’s jersey.
If you don’t have any, just ask someone to take a quick one before a game, ideally with a neutral background like a wall.
Don’t take a photo with some random, basic training top…
You want to show professionalism here, so again, make sure those details are taken care of.
I’ve also seen some players put in-game photos of themselves.
I’m personally not a big fan of this option, because you’re most likely not looking towards the camera, and this makes it harder to recognize your face.
Also, if you’re going to take an in-game photo, make sure you’re the only one in the shot. Don’t choose a 1v1 situation where you’re just confusing the person reading the CV.
There should only be one person in the photo : YOU!
Step 3 – Profile with Personal Information
At this point we’re getting into the core of your football CV, which is super important, but basic information that a coach needs to know about you.
This is the first section that should appear under your contact details.
Include your position(s), age, height, weight, strong foot and nationality/passport.
If you include more than one position, this shows versatility.
But I would stick to 2 or 3 positions; more than that and it looks sketchy or unprofessional.
It’s important to have this at the beginning because the truth is that these 5 simple pieces of information can make or break your chance of getting a trial or contract from a coach’s point of view.
You may be a 21-year-old young and promising center back, but the coach reading the CV might be looking for experienced players for his defense.
Or you might be a goalkeeper, and a coach will have a certain requirement when it comes to height.
Or simply, you just might not be the position they’re looking for.
These are harsh truths, but again, football is a business.
There’s supply and demand, and you need those to align for you to get an opportunity.
Step 4 – Your Highlight Video
Obviously, this is very important to show your ability as a player.
Include your highlight video link right underneath your personal information.
If you don’t know how to create a highlight video, refer to this link:
https://ricfittraining.com/blog/how-to-make-a-football-soccer-highlight-video
Step 5- Playing History:
Your playing history should include all the teams you’ve played for so far in your career (including the dates you’ve played for that team), as well as basic stats for each team:
Number of games played, goals/assists and clean sheets if you’re a goalkeeper.
Put your current team first at the top, and then go from there.
Again, you want to adapt this to your current situation and be sensible.
For instance, if you’re a 26-year-old player with a few years’ experience in men’s football, you don’t have to go all the way back to your local youth club you played at from ages 12-15.
In that case, you’re better off just including your experience in men’s football from age 18-19 onward, because a pro coach frankly doesn’t care where you played when you were a teenager, unless you were in a prestigious academy.
Obviously this depends on your situation.
If you’re looking to play college soccer, you definitely want to include your teenage years’ experience and clubs for coaches to see.
Just be smart with the information you select & stick to the most relevant information to make it easier for the reader to grasp your level and experience.
Step 6- Collective and Individual Accomplishments:
Like I always talk about, if you want to take the journey to a pro contract seriously, you need to treat yourself as a business.
What does a good business do? It sells, and it sells well.
One of the best ways to sell is with results.
Football is a results-based business.
In your case, as a footballer, a key part of your “sales pitch” in your football CV is having a section where you mention your achievements, both collective and individual.
Let’s be honest: football is super competitive. And part of standing out is showing some of your special achievements.
If you won any trophies with your team, mention it here.
If you won individual accolades like Player of the Year, Player of the Week, top scorer in your league, most clean sheets in your league… Also put it in.
Also, as a bonus, I’ve seen players include specific stats in terms of physical performance, which is a huge part of the game. This could be a 10m sprint time, 20m sprint time, Beep Test result …
Finally, you can mention if you captained some of your teams to indicate you’re a leader on the pitch, which is a quality a lot of coaches look for
Mentioning some of these relevant points will make you more desirable as a “business”.
This section’s goal is to put the icing on the cake towards the end of your CV and really impress your potential new coach.
As a matter of fact, if he’s made it this far when reading your CV, you’ve probably ticked many boxes and gotten some interest!
Step 7 – References:
As I explained before, the most important thing a coach is looking for in a football CV is proof.
Believe it or not, this is probably the most important part of your CV.
I was just talking to a coach who coaches in the first league at a big club in Europe, and he was telling me that one of the most important things he does is he calls every single one of the players’ references before officially signing a player.
Basically, what you want to do here is include a list of a few coaches that you’ve impressed and that you know like you that you’ve played under during your career.
List their phone numbers, email addresses, and where they currently coach and where they coached you.
Make sure to list references with the highest caliber of coaching experience, who coach in the “best leagues” at the “highest level.”
Step 8 – For Aspiring College Soccer Athletes:
(This Can Be an Entire Separate Article, but let’s cover it quickly)
For those of you who are in high school and looking to play college soccer, you will need to include an academics section in your football CV.
Put it right after the profile section, and before the playing history because remember, when you go to college, you’re a “student-athlete.” (Student before athlete ;))
You want to include your current high-school name, your GPA and your SAT/ACT score.
Also, you want to include any awards or honors you have gotten as a student to show that you’re serious about school 🙂
Your goal is to prove to the coach that you’re serious about academics and you’re a disciplined student.
This will give them even more motivation to recruit you to their school.
If a college soccer coach knows you’ll be doing well in the classroom, it’ll mean one less headache for him to manage daily.
Being well-rounded and doing well academically will also indicate to coaches that you have a lot potential to grow, develop and learn on and off the field!
Here is a Simple Example of My CV:
(Unfortunately due to space it’s not ‘aligned’ properly, but you get the idea)
Eric Austin Friedlander
Personal Data:
HEIGHT: 6 feet (1.820 meters)
WEIGHT: 78 Kilograms (172 pounds)
DOB: 08/14/94 (28 years old)
POSITION: Outside Back (Left or Right)/Center Defensive Midfielder
Highlights: https://youtu.be/aikF2d50-mo
Mobile Number: (603)412-2277
Passport Status: US Passport
Languages: English, German (Fluent), Swedish
Professional Playing Experience:
FS Leevon Saldus (First Division Latvia) April 2020-Current
Hapoel Robi Shapira Haifa (Israel) 2019-2020 (Pandemic Period)
FSV 63 Luckenwalde (Germany: NOFV-Oberliga Süd) 2018/2019
**Had to finish contract and leave early due to family health problems at home
Nyköpings BIS Fotboll (Sweden: Division 1 ETT) 2017/2018
SpVgg Ansbach (Germany: Bayernliga Nord) 2016/2017
FC Eintracht Bamberg (Germany: Bayernliga Nord) 2015/2016
Würzburger FV (Germany: Oberliga) 2015
University of Buffalo (USA-NCAA Division One) 2013/2014
Other Work:
RicFit LLC.
-Licensed Fitness Trainer, Nutrition Coach and 1-on-1 Personal Coach
Social Media:
500k Followers Across All Platforms
Instagram: (187,000 Followers) https://www.instagram.com/ric.fit/?hl=en
TikTok: (261,000 Followers) https://www.tiktok.com/@ric.fit?lang=en
References:
Kenny Cooper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Cooper
-FC Dallas Ambassador, Former US National Team Player,
+1 (214) 587-6370
Gints Freimanis:
-Latvian National Team Player
+37127138620
Artis Lazdins:
-Latvian National Team Player, Former Player in Poland Ekstraklasa (1st League Poland)
+37126789410
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A few last tips for you!
Hope this article helped you out and showed you the importance of having a football CV to get new opportunities and rise up the ranks!
As always, the goal is to keep your CV short, simple and easy to read.
There are a few non-negotiable pieces of information you MUST include, which we went over, but don’t overdo it.
Don’t try too hard to impress the coach and end up including information that isn’t relevant.
I’m sure if sure you follow all these steps when building your football CV, you’ll have a great tool to reach out to new teams and hopefully reach that goal of playing professional football!
Keep crushing this week!
Love & Health,
Your Football Mentor, Ric
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