Hey Erivelton, can you tell us something about yourself

I’m Erivelton Lima, Brazilian and 41 years old. I live in São Paulo and working as a Scout for Grêmio Football Porto Alegrense. I am a ex Professional Football player and started in the base categories of São Paulo F.C. After i ended my career as a Footballer in 2008 (due to injuries), I started studying Physical Education and graduated also for a Master’s Degree in Football. Besides that i have a module 1 of the FA for Talent Identification.

How did you become a scout for a big club like Gremio?

I was working as a Soccer Executive at Clube Atlético Taboão da Serra in 2014. We played the São Paulo Football Cup U19 and Grêmio FBPA was in our Group. We ended up in this opportunity finishing in First of the Group and we won the game against Grêmio (we elliminated them from the Competition). During this period of the group phase, I ended up meeting the coordinators and they were interested in my work. I moved to another small club in the State of Paraná in 2015, named Paranavaí. The staff of Grêmio continued to follow my work. We left in the semi final with a team of practically under 23 athletes and quality players. After that, i received the invitation to be a Grêmio Scout in the State of São Paulo.

How does a day of a scout look?

I am free set up my own schedule. I am always working towards Friday to send a report to my General Manager. I visit during the week diffrent things like social Projects, football Schools, football Clubs. There are weekends that I leave my house at 5 am and return Sunday night.

Brazil is known for their talents, is it more difficult as a scout to operate in Brazil?

I am sure that there are players for every market in Brazil (and especially in São Paulo). Brazil is the country that produces the most great soccer players.

Many football fans dream of becoming a football scout, can you give these people a tip on how to become a scout?

First of all, you have to love football. Start with a talent identification course to learn the basics and characteristics of different football teams and scouting. Note for example: the technical, physical, tactical and psychological profile of the athlete of a specific team in your region compare it to the top football team in your country. This way you will have a sense of how to start working. One important thing: being scout is not like a cake recipe that takes the ingredients and at the end the cake is ready. Every scout has a different view, partly because of experience you become better at being scout

Football is increasingly becoming a business in which higher amounts of money are circulated and the business importance is high. You have been a scout for a while now, do you notice this change with regard to scouting?

I see that Football is growing and professionalizing and that makes it very profitable. We are always seeking to discover and find great players, so there is a aim when I go to a game, visit to a social project or a club. Ofcourse we all hope to find a new Everton Soares (Gremio player who is playing fort he national team), a new Matheus Henrique, who plays for Brazil U23 or a new Arthur ex Grêmio player who plays for FC Barcelona We are not thinking about finding a profitable business, we are fully focused on finding the best player for our clubs.

Data is becoming more and more important in scouting, can you tell us more about this.

The data is important to minimize errors and improve when it comes to professional footballers. A while ago I had read a report (website of Esporte Interativo) about the former Director Ernst Tanner saying that the numbers of Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) were horrible, if it were only to be marked by these numbers maybe Roberto Firmino today would not be one of the great forwards in the world. We must mainly use data to find out more to improve certain things, but you cannot just scout a player based on data. I think that data is a good addition for scouting.

Would you consider working abroad, if yes where?

A very interesting question. Today I work as a scout for Gremio and I am very happy with that! If I were asked in which countries I could do the same work, I would choose Portugal in Europe and Colombia in South America. I have studied these countries and find them very interesting

What is the story of one player that you would like to share? A story that impressed you?

That is clearly Ronaldo phenomeno, his experience, drive and achievements are out of the ordinary. He is the best player I have ever seen for me

What would you give as a tip to all young football players who want to be scouted?

My advice is not only to focus on when scouts come in. It is a process that you need to focus on every day. Are all the things you are doing during the day getting you closer or further from your dreams? If the answer is closer (it is because you have dedicated yourself to training, food, sleeping early, respecting your coaches, studying). Nothing beats Work.