How To Market Yourself As A Soccer Player? 9 Important Methods

The success of a good product greatly lies in its marketability, otherwise, it would not command much value to its intended consumers. The same principle is applicable in the world of soccer. Talent and skills can take a soccer player far but how well he’s able to market himself will keep him at the top.

Every great soccer player the world has ever seen became an icon because of the power of marketability. This is why it is important that as a budding soccer professional player, you develop the right knowledge on how to market yourself.

There are several factors one would need to consider in their journey to showcase/market themselves. The factor would be having the necessary skills.

Soccer, as a competitive sport, has a lot of talent looking to take or share the spotlight. No matter the level of connection in soccer a player may seem to have, if the player lacks the fundamental skills of a professional soccer player, he would struggle professionally.

A classical example of this would be the youngest soccer player to play the sport professionally. Mauricio Baldivieso, who was almost 13 years of age in 2009, was privileged to be brought in as a substitution in a match for his club, Club Aurora, against La Paz.

Could it have been his talent, like Brazilian Pele, that brought him out at this early stage? The manager of his team at that time was his father. It would seem a good way to help push his son into the world of professional soccer.

Having started at such a young age, where is Mauricio Baldivieso today? The right connections can put you on the world stage of soccer but it’ll take individual skill and talent, with the right marketability, to keep you there.

In this article, we will explain everything you would need, in detail, on how to sell yourself into the competitive soccer world. It will also examine the pros and cons of each method applicable.

How To Market Yourself As A Soccer Player?

Undeniably, there are professionals in soccer whose main job is to help market players and make them sellable. These are officially known as Sports Marketing Agents.

They exist to help take away the burden and stress of marketing from players and allow you to focus on honing your skill while they seek business opportunities for your services.

As soccer keeps gaining popularity in the US, it has become obvious that a lot of talents are buried in the country. Most of these players practice relentlessly on the pitch and hope that someday an agent or soccer scout will notice them.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with continuous training and being noticed by agents or scouts but to stand out as a soccer player, it’s best to be intentional about it.

As a young soccer player, you may not have the right budget in place to hire the services of a sports marketing agency. Rather than wait on the sidelines in hope of raising funds or getting picked out by soccer scouts, you can start out by intentionally utilizing some or all of the methods outlined below.

Hone your soccer skills and talent

This goes without saying but it can be overlooked by many young players. Like other sports, soccer is unique in the way the game is played and the rules that govern it. There’s more to just running around the pitch and making passes.

Think about it this way, there are thousands of soccer players all over the world but only a few of those become popular on a professional level. A closer look at each of these players will reveal how well they have developed themselves in the game.

To improve on your soccer skills, you’ll have to continuously practice to develop stamina, speed, and necessary skills. Take the time out to research on technical ways to train and improve yourself.

Pros

• Your skills become your selling point. It is the first noticeable thing any agent or soccer scout will see.
• It’ll help build your strength and improve muscle memory to ensure you have the right stamina.
• It gives you a competitive edge over your other mates when it comes down to selection or being shortlisted.

Cons

• It would require a lot of endurance practice and could be tiring to your body.
• If you do not have the skills naturally, it could be expensive to hire a coach to help build you up.

What field position do you play?

There are four main positions of play in the game of soccer – goalie, defender, midfielder, and striker. It’s insane to believe you’re good to play in all positions. Being versatile has its uses but a soccer coach searches for players in areas of specialization.

You have to develop yourself to play in a particular field position while ensuring you can also be useful in others, should the need arise. If you think of successful professional soccer players throughout the history of soccer, you would discover each field position has produced the best of them all.

When it comes to goalies, notable names that stand out are Oliver Kahn, Petr Cech, Manuel Neuer, Gianluigi Buffon, and Iker Casillas. These players were sought after for their goalkeeping abilities.

When it comes to renowned soccer defenders, the names that stand out include Gerard Pique, Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Gary Neville, Marcelo, Fabio Cannavaro, Virgil van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Cafu, and Paolo Maldini.

Notable midfielders in the soccer world include Luka Modric, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Michael Ballack, Zinedine Zidane, Juan Roman Riquelme, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Andres Pirlo, and Ryan Giggs.

Renowned soccer strikers include Filippo Inzaghi, Alan Shearer, Patrick Kluivert, Samuel Eto’o, Wayne Rooney, Alessandro Del Pietro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko, Thierry Henry, Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Messi.

The nostalgia felt reading through these names is why soccer is the greatest sport in the world. As a soccer player, having your name written in gold on the hall of fame is one of the greatest achievements ever! It all starts with position specialization.

Pros

• Specialization allows you to focus your energy on improving yourself.
• You become more marketable because of your uniqueness of play.
• Coaches are always on the lookout for specific position talents. This increases your chances of selection.
• Identifying as a general soccer player makes you easily replaceable and diminishes your value in the long run.

Cons

• It could limit your style of play and have you playing a particular position for the rest of your professional career.
• Depending on the chosen position, you could have less playing time if there are other more competent talents in that position.

Improve your soccer résumé

It is part of your responsibility as a player to prepare yourself with the right features so they can be appealing to a club. You can start out by enrolling in a good soccer academy or an amateur club to polish your skills and abilities.

Just like in the corporate world, a soccer résumé is a go-to document that highlights your talent to coaches, agents, and scouts. This means you’re expected to only document achievements that make you stand out.

Let’s say you’re privileged to attend a soccer academy or play for an amateur club, it’s important you record videos of your peak moments while playing.

All of these will be used to build your profile. As a growing talent, you can take the time to update your profile on scouting online soccer platforms or send your résumé to places you wish to play for.

When a player’s profile is exposed to potential teams, they are more likely to be approached about trial chances.

Pros

• Increases your chances of being noticed and eventually being accepted into bigger clubs.
• Presents the player as a professional and an asset to potential teams.
• If accepted into clubs, it creates an avenue for the player to broaden his expertise.
• It helps keep a track record of your soccer playing achievements.

Cons

• After going through the stress of building a résumé, failure to receive positive feedback could leave the player feeling disappointed and unmotivated.
• It can be time-consuming.

Build the right relationships and connections

As you grow in your career as a soccer player, it’s important you learn how to build relationships with everyone around you. 

Your teammates are your open competition, especially if you’re still trying to find your feet in the soccer world, but they could also have put in a good word for you somewhere else.

Too often, emphasis is placed on coaches and agents to get and make the right connections but as a growing professional, you may have to start out doing this on your own.

Get the attention of prominent people in soccer in and around your locality. They’ll help push you into the big stage eventually.

Taking a cue from the steps of marketing yourself we already talked about, ensure you have the skills and evidence to back it up. Sometimes the difference between staying as an amateur soccer player and going professional is being pointed to the right soccer tryouts or academy.

Pros

• A player may be good on the pitch but it is the people behind the scene that helps in giving him a platform.
• You will advance quickly in your journey to becoming a soccer professional.
• As a soccer player, getting the right amount of playing time will help put you in the spotlight for growth.
• As a sport heavily governed by associations, connections are as important as skill and talent.

Cons

• Your success could be downplayed to have been gotten through connections rather than your skill.
• It can make a player a bit complacent in developing himself, especially because he believes he has the right connections.
• Your intentions, if not genuine, can be counterproductive.

Create avenues for tryouts opportunities

With the right connections and relationships, you would be able to have the right contacts for invitations to soccer tryouts. Unless you’ve made yourself a name in soccer, you should never stop trying to improve yourself.

Undoubtedly, you’ll need to go for physical tryouts as an unknown soccer player. As your popularity begins to grow, you can reach out to coaches, agents, and scouts by sending digitized copies of your skills. They’ll reach out to you if you’re the right fit for them.

All in all, never cease to find ways for tryout opportunities. Clubs and coaches are continuously on the lookout for new talent to improve their teams.

Pros

• To put the player in the right hands.
• Give the player an avenue to promote his craft.
• Boost the player’s confidence and self-worth.
• Help the player realize his dream.

Cons

• Tryouts come with a lot of pressure. Many players have recorded poor performances during tryouts as a result of anxiety.
• Attending tryouts with no success can affect the overall confidence of the player
• It could all just be a waste of time

Creating a brand personality

Any player that fails in personal branding might not even be noticed by fans, clubs, and managers. Personal branding makes the player more valuable and increases his financial value during transfers. Becoming a successful professional soccer player is much more than being able to run around the pitch for 90 minutes.

There are no limitations to what personal branding can be and it takes on several forms. The whole idea is to have something that stands you out when people talk about you.

Ronaldinho was a skillful dribbler and an exceptional passer. Soccer fans longed to watch him play on the pitch because no matter the nature of the game, he would naturally create a jaw-dropping display of skills.

David Beckham was known for his skillful free-kicks – this became his brand. There were many people, soccer fans or people with little knowledge about the game, who knew him for this particular skill. Freekicks are a norm in every game, no matter how fair-played the game might seem; any coach would be happy to have him on his team.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lewandowski, and Messi are all known for their prolific talent upfront in scoring goals but they still manage to have individual personalities.

Even if one is not immediately aware of the teams playing on the field, to see Cristiano Ronaldo stand to take a free kick or celebrate a goal with his ‘Si!’ gesture, it is easy to pick him out.

With his height and relentless speed at chasing the ball, Messi is a juggernaut charging towards the opposition goal with great dribbling skills.

As a growing soccer player, before the endorsement from reputable brands, create a personality brand both on and off the pitch that’ll make you stand out.

Pros

• The player’s perceived worth is significantly higher.
• The player will stand out from the rest.
• The player will be seen as always genuine.
• For your specialized audience, you’re the ideal individual in your field of expertise.
• You are a magnet for perfect situations.

Cons

• It’s tough to remain true to yourself, especially if it’s not done genuinely
• Overselling oneself is a bad idea.
• While there’s nothing like bad publicity, personal branding can expose you to the harshness of the unfavorable press.

Connect with the game’s fans and maintain a strong relationship with them

The fans are very important to the career of anyone including a soccer player. If soccer-loving fans do not see you as a favorite, then you may struggle and encounter problems. Clubs and managers may seem powerful but it is the fans that hold the game together.

Without soccer fans, the sport will lose its popularity and financial capabilities. Get in the right books with the fans and the clubs and coaches will have no choice but to give you the attention. The glory of the game lies in the hands of the fans; take your glory from them!

Pros

• The player will enjoy full fans support.
• You’ll get more playing time which will help improve your performance and stamina on the pitch
• This is the quickest way to achieve fame and glory
• With fans screaming to watch you play, ticket sales will increase which will, invariably, increase your value as a player.

Cons

• The pressure to always perform can be draining
• Fans have high expectations and since soccer is a team sport, your performance is directed related to how your teammates perform
• Just as quickly as fans can elevate your status, they’re powerful enough to end your career if you fail to deliver.

Developing a strong online presence

The online world has made it very possible for players to reach a wider audience and promote their craft effectively. The higher the number of followers a player gets on his social media platforms, the higher his brand value increases.

Social media is another great way to interact with fans. Soccer fans, like any other fan, are thrilled to engage with their idol. It is the new rave for both free and paid promotion and you should take advantage of it.

Pros

• You have a lot of fans to reach.
• You have a direct line of communication with your fans.
• You can produce natural and personalized content.
• Paid ads services are available to you.
• You can build your brand.
• You are in a position to assess your progress.

Cons

• There is no emotional bond between the players and the fans on social media.
• Social media can be a vile place where anyone gets to express themselves
• The online world, especially social media, has caused depression for many looking to it for validation.

Moving to another club

As a professional soccer player, growth comes in different dimensions. Moving to another club helps increase your overall value as a player. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to stay at a club for all of your soccer playing years but in the long run, your value becomes limited.

By moving to another club, in a higher league or same league, shows scout agents and the soccer community in general that your value is increasing. You must make a mark on your current club before choosing to leave. When clubs bid for soccer players in the transfer market, it means they see potential in the player.

Pros

• It is clear evidence that your skills and hard work are getting noticed.
• It affords you the privilege of working with different coaches and improving, tactically, about the game of soccer.
• Staying put at a particular club for all of one’s soccer career is like putting oneself in a box – you never push your limits to what you could have achieved.
• You become more confident in your playing abilities and self.

Cons

• Unless you’re exceptionally good, it can come off as you being discarded by your former club.
• Frequent changing of clubs can affect the overall morale and confidence of the player because he’ll spend most of the time trying to adapt to new, ever-changing playing tactics
• It could be misunderstood as being difficult to work with.

Conclusion

Your greatness as a soccer player lies in how far you can successfully market yourself. There are professional marketing agents who can help promote your brand but as a growing soccer player with little resources, you can set out to do this on your own.

The article addressed some of the most important methods to employ to successfully market yourself in today’s world of soccer. Undoubtedly, all of these methods come with their pros and cons. Each of these has been carefully examined in the article.

Jay Gatz

Hi there, I’m Jay.

Soccer is everything in my life! My friends and I have created this blog with all our enthusiasm, passion, and understanding after years of playing pro soccer. Hope you will enjoy it!

Read my story here.