Master’s Degree in Football Analysis:Tactical, Video and Data Analysis

This module introduces students to the professional ecosystem of the analyst in modern football, defining roles, responsibilities, and working contexts. It also establishes the conceptual foundations of today’s game that are necessary to understand what to analyze, how to do it, and with what professional criteria.

1. Historical evolution of game analysis in football.
2. The analyst in modern football: definition, importance, and added value.
3. Types of analyst: tactical, opponent, individual, data, physical performance, and set-piece specialist.
4. Differences between a coaching staff analyst and a club analyst.
5. Methodological differences between youth football and professional football.
6. The analyst in media, agencies, and sporting management departments.
7. Structure of an analysis department in a professional club.
8. The analyst’s typical work week: planning and deadlines.
9. Professional organization, storage, and management of information.
10. Fundamentals of modern football and current tactical trends.
11. The analyst’s skills and professional profile.
12. Professional ethics and confidentiality in sports analysis.

This module builds the essential tactical foundation required to analyze with professional rigor. Students develop a shared tactical language and learn to observe the game in a structured way, distinguishing between qualitative and quantitative analysis depending on the objective.

1. The four phases of the game: offensive and defensive organization, and transitions.
2. Offensive and defensive tactical principles.
3. Principles in transitions.
4. Game systems and their variations.
5. Roles and functions by position.
6. Game models: possession-based, transitional, direct, and mixed.
7. Building professional tactical language.
8. Observation methodology according to the objective (own team, opponent, individual).
9. Macro vs. micro analysis.
10. Contextualizing analysis according to situational variables.

Technical training in professional video capture, editing, and visualization tools. Students learn to design efficient workflows and create real deliverables used by coaching staffs in competition.

1. Multi-camera capture and recording systems.
2. Recording setup for matches and training sessions.
3. Storage and streaming platforms.
4. Professional editing and tagging software.
5. Design of customized tagging templates.
6. Live and post-event tagging.
7. Creation of thematic playlists.
8. Optimized export and sharing of clips.
9. Tactical animation software.
10. Integration of video and animations into presentations.

This module equips students to evaluate the collective and individual performance of their own team, identifying game patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement in both competition and training.

1. Collective analysis in offensive and defensive phases.
2. Transition analysis.
3. Identification of own-team patterns.
4. Evaluation of individual performance by position.
5. Training analysis and transfer to competition.
6. Use of drones and overhead cameras.
7. Databases of training tasks.
8. Immediate post-match analysis.
9. In-depth post-match report.
10. Communication of the analysis to the coaching staff.

Specialization in strategic opponent analysis to turn information into real competitive advantage during match preparation.

1. Professional methodology for opponent analysis.
2. Identification of the opponent’s tactical model and system.
3. Phase-by-phase analysis of the opponent’s game.
4. Study of the opponent’s transitions.
5. Analysis of the opponent’s set pieces.
6. Identification of strengths and vulnerabilities.
7. Detection of trends according to context.
8. Preparation of the pre-match report.
9. Presentation to staff and players.

Development of skills in professional player evaluation for recruitment, monitoring, and transfer decision-making processes.

1. Identification of key players.
2. Individual scouting methodology.
3. Technical-tactical evaluation.
4. Physical and mental evaluation.
5. Position-specific scouting.
6. Benchmarking between players.
7. Analysis of adaptability to the game model.
8. Preparation of professional scouting reports.
9. Differences between youth and professional scouting.

Specialization in the strategic analysis of set pieces, one of the most decisive factors in modern football.

1. Strategic importance of set pieces.
2. Specific methodology for set-piece analysis.
3. Own-team attacking analysis.
4. Own-team defensive analysis.
5. Opponent set-piece analysis.
6. Corners and free kicks.
7. Throw-ins and long throws.
8. Identification of trends.
9. Design of attacking and defensive strategies.
10. Preparation of specialized reports.

Progressive training in sports data processing and analysis, integrating professional tools to turn information into decisions.

1. Data sources and types in football.
2. Excel and Google Sheets for basic analysis.
3. Pivot tables and initial visualization.
4. Relational databases with Airtable.
5. Introduction to Python and pandas.
6. Cleaning and transforming datasets.
7. Creation of customized metrics.
8. Basic visualization in Python.
9. Basic and intermediate SQL queries.
10. Data automation and backup.

Learning visual storytelling and the design of interactive dashboards to communicate complex data in a clear, strategic, and actionable way.

1. Storytelling applied to sports analysis.
2. Principles of information design.
3. Types of visualizations and when to use them.
4. Common mistakes in visualization.
5. Professional presentations with PowerPoint and Canva.
6. Integration of video and data into presentations.
7. Dashboard design in Looker Studio.
8. Introduction to Power BI and Tableau.
9. Own-team and scouting dashboards.
10. Publishing and automatic dashboard updates.

Effective communication in football transforms analysis into real decisions by teaching how to adapt, prioritize, and clearly present reports, data, video, and tactical adjustments before, during, and after the match, under pressure and according to each audience.

1. Communication as a strategic competency of the analyst.
2. Fundamental principles of effective communication applied to analysis.
3. Types of communication in the analyst’s daily work.
4. Adapting the message according to the recipient’s profile.
5. Design and presentation of analysis reports to the coaching staff.
6. Communicating analysis and instructions to players.
7. Use of body language, voice, and stage presence.
8. Effective integration of video, graphics, and data into presentations.
9. Communication applied to match preparation and pre-game talks.
10. Communication in high-pressure contexts: live analysis, halftime, post-match, and feedback.

An integrative professional project in which students apply all the skills acquired, developing a complete analysis project ready for their portfolio.

1. Definition and planning of the project.
2. Collection and organization of information.
3. Application of video analysis methodologies.
4. Integration of data analysis.
5. Creation of visualizations and dashboards.
6. Preparation of the final professional report.
7. Presentation and defense of the project.