Stage 1: What should the club decide before contacting suppliers?

Write the purchasing question in football terms, then translate it into evidence requirements. FIFA’s Talent Identification Guide places football philosophy and player profiles before identification and selection. That is a useful starting principle, although FIFA does not prescribe the supplier-procurement process proposed here. (fifatrainingcentre.com)

A suitable brief might read:

We need to assess whether candidates for a wide-forward role repeatedly create useful off-ball options in our priority competitions. Our current process cannot answer this consistently. We will compare an additional dataset, a specialist assessment and the existing workflow before the renewal notice deadline.

Avoid briefs such as “find the best AI scouting platform”. They do not define what a successful purchase must accomplish.

First-stage checklist

• Name the football decision: discovery, assessment, verification, integration or subscription consolidation.
• Specify the role, competitions, seasons and decision deadline.
• Identify the operational user, technical evaluator, budget owner and signatory.
• Record the renewal date and the last date for giving notice.
• Set a limit on evaluation hours and external expenditure.
• State what would justify buying nothing.
• Confirm permission before sharing contracts, shortlists, footage or licensed extracts.

Assign responsibilities explicitly rather than assuming job titles determine authority. As one illustration of cross-functional work—not evidence of a universal club structure—Nashville SC’s advertised Data Analyst role describes collaboration across the front office, scouting and recruitment, analysis, and high performance. (analyticssportsjobs.com)

Exit condition: the sponsor can explain the decision, deadline and required improvement in two sentences.