11 Questions with Eduard Schmidt

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Eduard Schmidt, assistant coach and analyst at FC St. Gallen.

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

The answer to this depends on the level of the opportunity. My first steps in football were on a low amateur level with young players. Those were about me actively making the decision: I want to coach. I want to be involved in this. It’s a volunteer job, you get paid a small compensation at best. People gladly take you.

Once you start, you build a network and many things just happen from this, mixed with continued and growing interest in the subject. For me, starting to write for “Konzeptfussball” and “Spielverlagerung” turned out to become the key factor. I eventually also got a student job at a company called “Fubalytics” which had a great impact on many levels. All this combined continuously increased the chances of actually setting a foot into professional football. That’s what happened eventually with a bit of luck.

What attracted you to coaching? What’s more intriguing now winning or developing players?

There are many factors contributing to this, which makes it hard to name one particular reason. Let me try to name some:

1) I love being part of a team. This sounds quite profane but in which other job are you as much part of a team as in coaching football (or other TEAM sports)? Of course, I could also sit in the same office with 5 other people and we sell something together, make money and be happy. But the emotional factor is much bigger in football, the response much more direct and the human relations are often even more than just the means to an end.

2) Related to this: I love to help other people to become the best they can be at a thing they enjoy. But this also works the other way around!

3) The game of football itself. It fascinates me so much that I just want to be involved in it. I kind of neglected my university career for it before it even really started. What is a lecture about biomechanics compared to a game of football? Watching football or coaching often brings a Flow with it that makes me forget I am working. Sometimes I even watch games of other teams to relax.

4) You shouldn’t neglect that there are some motives related to me and my personality as well. I always enjoyed speaking in front of people, bringing across ideas and observing how they work in practice.

Football is a game. In games there are winners and losers. I think you don’t become a coach without a certain desire to win.

But you can win in different ways. If you are coach at Bayern Munich, winning is more or less about titles. It’s expected. You know that when you take the job. But if you coach a small youth team, it might already be a win that the players enjoy themselves and come to every session instead of doing something else in their free time.

If I look at the broader picture, I don’t really see winning and developing players as opposite ends of a spectrum. Developing players well in different aspects will eventually lead to winning constantly more games (and eventually titles) over time. There’s joy in the process but also joy in getting the result.

Who is the first coach/teacher that resonated with you? What stood out?

I had some reasonably good coaches in my youth as a football player who were also good human beings. But I would lie if I said any of them were really influential for me as a person.

The first one who really got to me was actually a teacher at school. I was around 16 years old, going through a tough spell during puberty. I stopped playing football competitively around that time because it just didn’t feel good anymore. One could even say that I was in a depressive state during that time period.

Then I met this German and Philosophy teacher and he really sparked a fire in me over time. For reading stuff, for trying to understand how things work but also for just not giving too much thought about what others think.

He dealt with us students like you would with adults, gave us freedom and responsibility. I think he barely ever said a bad word about somebody but always tried to work on the good characteristics everyone has. He even came to watch football games with me and some friends from time to time. Fun was always an important part of his pedagogy – and it continued even outside the class room. One can say: He just respected us as human beings. So, we did the same. And learned a lot more than just poems.

When he suddenly died a few years ago, it was a big shock not only for me but also for other fellow students. Suddenly old friends texted me after years. That’s when I realized what kind of an impact he had in particular and what kind of an impact teachers/coaches can have in general.

What is the biggest misconception in football? Why?

There are so many misconceptions in football, some smaller, some bigger. It always depends on the context, which one annoys me the most or if I am even happy to have discovered a misconception that I had by myself.

The whole notion of “efficiency”, especially in the big media outlets, really bugs me. You score two goals from two 20-meter shots but barely ever enter the opponent’s half despite that. But you deserved to win because you were more “efficient”. Then clearly every singular result is deserved or not deserved and you have to judge your whole work again after each single game only based on that. Well, at least you will constantly have nice headlines.

Coaches and other people lose their jobs because of such narratives. At the same time, they imply that you alone decide about win or loss. But football is a game. There’s an opponent in the game and a lot of random factors.

It’s not only people from the outside who contribute to this. We as people who are directly involved in the game tend to underrate the role luck plays. You and your team are not bad because you lost once but for example rather when you always allow more and better chances than you create. Such trends can only be observed and put into perspective over a longer time period. This doesn’t mean your work is useless or that you can’t change anything, either way. It just means that not everything is in your own hands. That’s what makes football so exciting after all.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

I personally don’t see the beginning of something as the matter of which skills you build on but more as a matter of interest and as matter of “jumping into it” (active version) or “being caught in” (passive version). That’s how I always approached things that stayed with me and eventually became a part of who I am.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Which would you start with?

It certainly has elements of both. On a structural level, the science part plays or should play a bigger role. The general framework has to be set based on scientific evidence. Also, the coaches have to know what generally benefits player development from a perspective of science. But on the level of direct interaction they constantly operate in, player development becomes much more of an art, much more unpredictable and individual. This is were development always starts. It’s the human interactions that matter.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

I am regularly watching videos of different big sports moments. It gives me goosebumps. If I had to pick one that I felt the most while it happened, it was probably Mario Götze’s goal against Argentina which won Germany the World Cup in 2014. I am usually not too enthusiastic about national teams or “my” particular national team. But during this tournament everything came together and this decisive goal was the ultimate climax.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Many coaches, players and teams inspired me over time and continue to inspire me. But if I had to pick out one at this given moment, it can only be Jürgen Klopp. He’s the most complete coach I know and over time he developed the most complete team in the world. Thanks to this process Liverpool are a winning team now.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into scouting/analytics?

I am not in the position to give any deep advice to people. To still give kind of an answer: Just watch games, analyze games, write about it, publish it, discuss with people. The rest will come. But never do anything only because people “who made it” advised you to do it…

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for work or fun)?

I have to admit that I really like SofaScore and use it a lot. I’ve been obsessed with results from different leagues, with line-ups, player names et cetera ever since I was a child. Back then I took notes of everything I came across in the TV broadcast. Now Apps do that job for me. And whenever somebody in the staff mentions a player name, I will be the one answering: Yep, I know him!

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst/scout? Why?

Everything that forces me to think outside of the box (by this I also mean: the box of everything related to football) can help to improve my work. I love to read about different topics. I love all kinds of art, although I have no clue about it after all. The more you know about the world, the better you will be able to understand the people you work with. And you will also be healthier by yourself not thinking about football all the time. After a run, my mind is so clear, that I work much better and more efficiently. It’s a privilege being to be in the position I am in today and I remind myself of this every day.