In this limited series, we look into emerging scouting trends and how Wyscout’s Youth Competitions Pack can keep you ahead of the curve.

Multi-club ownership is not a new phenomenon in football but is, nevertheless, one that is on the rise.

According to CIES Sports Intelligence research, the total number of clubs involved in multi-club ownership is now nearing 350 teams, having increased 30% over the past year and a half, while the growth in MCOs is anticipated to rise 46% between 2022 and 2025.

The potential advantages for MCOs are evident. Clubs operating within the same network can share scouting resources, exchange knowledge and best practices, enhance their brand and commercial bargaining power and, crucially, increase their maneuverability of player and staff movement. They can also bring much needed financial stability and support to clubs.

MCOs remain a hotly contested topic, however, with some critics raising concerns around the dilution of club identity and competitive balance.

What’s for certain though, is that the existence and growth of MCOs have an inevitable impact on scouting and recruitment strategies.

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The broader reach provided by satellite clubs and the seamless ability to move players between them often result in an emphasis on younger players.

Done correctly, with a clear long term development plan and aligned game models in place, MCOs can identify young talent, give them first team football - which they may not have got if they had jumped straight to the parent club - and prepare them in the same philosophy to ease their transition as they progress through the clubs.

A prime example would be Red Bull, who have seen players like Dominik Szoboszlai and Benjamin Sesko pass through FC Liefering, RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig. Another case in point is Savio who moved from City Group’s Troyes to Girona and now Manchester City.

As a result of this tendency, value chains can become internalized as transfer fees are concentrated within MCOs rather than being spread across different clubs.

Recruitment strategies predicated on financial motivations are also prevalent among some MCOs. The business model consists of buying talents from around the world at a cheaper price, spreading them around clubs under the MCO umbrella, and then selling them on for a profit once they’ve had experience at a higher level.

Whether for long term planning to strengthen first team performance or for making a profit through player trading, the common denominator is a focus on youth. This underlines the importance of scouting youth competitions, both for MCOs looking for talents to develop or for clubs competing against MCOs to be the first to recruit rising young stars.

With Wyscout’s Youth Competitions Pack, clubs have access to a wealth of video footage and comprehensive data on thousands of promising young players, from 70+ competitions around the world covering U14 to U21 age categories.

Recruiters can gain data-driven insights about prestigious tournaments like the Copinha or COTIF, comparing players using the same metrics and KPIs as employed by first team analysts, to make better decisions faster and not miss out on the next big thing.

Download our new eBook ‘Copinha 2024: Key Trends and Rising Stars’ to discover how Wyscout data can elevate your scouting

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