All of us who love the beautiful game have, at some point in our lives, brought our sporting dreams into virtual reality through Football Manager, but few will have thought about everything that goes on behind the scenes in spotting talent and assigning attributes to players in this game. Bola Na Rede spoke with one of the people mainly responsible for that process, Bola Na Rede spoke with one of the people mainly responsible for that process, Bruno Gens Luís, who admits he's a football fanatic.
What's your academic background? Did you always plan to work in sport?
It's always been a dream of mine to work in sport. Anyone who knows me knows perfectly well that my biggest passion is football, but unfortunately, due to physical limitations and a resulting medical recommendation, I gradually moved away from it and went into another field, economics, in which I have a degree. But one of my future goals is to do a postgraduate degree in sports management.
How did you become Chief Scout for Portugal for Football Manager?
To be honest, it was a fast process, but a lot of work. I started out as just a critic of the database, compiling errors and gaps in the Portuguese database on the SI forum. Because I kept at it, I was invited to join the Portuguese team, where I took over coordinating the old CNS. Later I took over coordinating research for the PALOP countries, and shortly after that I was invited by the previous coordinator, José Chieira, to replace him coordinating Portuguese research, together with Carlos Bessa. It looks like a fast rise, but my day-to-day was simply wake up, work, sleep.
Can you briefly explain, so people get a sense of the whole process, how a player's attributes are chosen, and how you manage to get a high level of reliability even for players from lesser-known teams?
Every player is rated across dozens of attributes, from mental to technical and physical, each with a different weight depending on the position on the pitch. We try to build a value-based assessment of the player, taking into account how he behaves in the different phases of a match. It's a complex process, but reliability comes from one person specialising in a given team. The more matches you watch from that team, the more accurate your rating of its players will be.
Do you consider the Portuguese database to be one of the best in Football Manager? Do you think we're doing well in that regard compared to other countries?
Modesty aside, yes, I think it's one of the best and most reliable databases in Football Manager, but obviously we make mistakes and have gaps like everyone else; scouting isn't an exact science. It helps having a huge fanbase and the game being well known in Portugal: because of that, more people want to get involved compared to other countries where the game is less well known (Argentina, for example).
How many people make up the scouting team for Football Manager? Are they all volunteers?
All volunteers, so there are always people coming and going. Normally, the Portuguese team has around 50 people, but over the course of the year it can reach around 80.
Has it ever happened that clubs contacted you for advice on signing players?
Yes, more and more, especially from lower divisions, but I've also been contacted by professional clubs, including the 'big three'. It got to the point where there were so many teams/agents/managers/directors that I had to say enough. Time and knowledge are money, and scouting scouting
is still undervalued by a lot of people in football, which is why Portugal keeps seeing players with no real quality getting placed by agents, blocking the progress of young talents from lower divisions.
Do you feel 'proud' when a player flagged by Football Manager's scouting team goes on to succeed in real football?
Of course, just like any scout is pleased when a player he recommended thrives at his club and delivers trophies and/or a big transfer fee that fills the club's coffers.
Can you give a specific example of a player whose talent was first spotted in Football Manager and who later became a player of undisputed quality?
I could give hundreds of examples, but the ones that stuck with me most are probably Saviola, Iniesta and Rooney, who at 16 (or younger?) were already stars in the game. There are certainly other examples, like Kompany or Verratti, but these stood out to me because I always signed them for my teams.
How do you react to the criticism often levelled by fans of the game about certain teams supposedly being favoured with attributes after all the work put into building the database?
Ratings are subjective; so it's normal for every person to have their own opinion about a given player. You can spot pretty clearly who has 'acute club bias' and who genuinely wants to help improve the database. All criticism is welcome and reviewed by us.
Do you think this kind of criticism also reflects a lack of sporting culture in Portugal? x of team y is good, it must be because the research team is all made up of fans of that club. It's got to the point where a group of fans from one club got together and sent anonymous fake favouritism complaints to SI.
What do you think can still be done, or improved, in the Portuguese database for Football Manager?
Youth academies are still not explored enough outside the big clubs. Unfortunately most contributors only watch senior football, so it's quite hard to get reliable information at youth level, and those who do have that knowledge don't want to contribute without financial compensation.
When the game is finally released, do you feel relief, or is there still a long road ahead?
Research never stops, except for a few days between handing in the database and the new tasks being assigned to the researchers. During holiday periods, like Christmas and New Year, we also collect the files and give everyone time off.
When do you start thinking about the next game?
Years in advance! We already know what new features we want to add to each version several editions before it's released. Obviously not every new feature can always be implemented when we want, but there's always a future plan sketched out well ahead of time. As for the database itself, we start around March/April.
Getting a bit more personal, which game in the CM/FM series did you personally enjoy playing the most?
I have two favourites: 99/00 and 01/02. But the one I played the most was CM2 95/96.
Do you consider yourself part of the generation shaped by Tó Madeira's success?
Honestly it didn't have much of an effect on me. I'd already been playing CM for years, but I fully believe the Tó Madeira 'glitch' worked perfectly as a marketing strategy that drew huge numbers of people into the game. Everyone wanted to buy Gouveia's Tó Madeira and find out who he really was in real life. I made a lot of online gaming friends thanks to 'him'.
Setting aside Bruno the Sports Interactive contributor, and asking Bruno the Football Manager player directly, what would you change, improve or add to the game?
More leagues! The more the better; without needing to install unofficial patches . save I'm one of those people who, when starting a save, adds leagues from all over the world, and rotates between teams from each country. I'd also love a 'President' version, where you'd have to pick a manager to lead your team to glory. Of course, how the season unfolds would depend on the President-Manager and President-Squad dynamics, how much freedom and room you'd give the manager to make decisions and how he'd react to your low/high level of involvement, whether or not you accept recommendations from him and the club's other staff about transfers/coaching/improving facilities and their reactions to your responses, dealing with complaints and pressure from players and agents, motivating players at crucial points in the season with bonuses/words or punishments, dealing with elections and takeover bids from other people, etc. There's a lot of cool stuff that could be added with a version like this. As for what already exists: a complete overhaul of the training system.
Don't you think Football Manager could use a big competitor, a bit like what already happens between FIFA and PES, to 'push' Sports Interactive and prevent stagnation?
All competition is welcome, but it would be very hard for anyone to actually compete with SI at this point. Starting from zero and competing with a company with 25 years of experience in the field and branches all over the world is quite risky.
I noticed that during your time at Sports Interactive you've flagged many cases of players who play or have played in Portugal, from Africa, with falsified ages. Can you explain why these kinds of cases still happen in Portugal in the 21st century?
It's easy to understand why the players do it; it all comes down to money. Players from poor families are lured in by ill-intentioned, money-hungry agents, and agree to falsify their passports in exchange for a shot at a career in a European country. Sadly, many of them get abandoned as soon as they arrive in Portugal and are left to fend for themselves. It should be the Portuguese Football Federation, with help from the SEF (immigration authority), cracking down on these situations, but the opposite is happening. More and more keep coming in.
Do Sports Interactive contributors get any kind of perk for helping build the game's database? Is it purely for the CV?
Yes, it's purely a résumé-building contribution, with a free copy of the game as a thank-you. But it's opened doors for a lot of them, who've been approached to join scouting departments at various clubs around the country.
There are surely very few people who know the on-the-ground reality of our more amateur football the way you do. What's your opinion on the current state of Portuguese amateur football?
There's a lot of hidden talent, overshadowed by low-quality foreigners who keep showing up every transfer window, playing in competitions that are terribly designed by the Portuguese Football Federation, which leads to their demotivation and early exit from football. Professional teams below the second division are rare, so wages are low, which forces players to work to support themselves. Their priorities shift elsewhere and football ends up second, or even third, in line, which stalls the player's development, leading to demotivation and, in many cases, giving up the sport altogether.
Do you have an explanation for the lack of fans in Portuguese stadiums?
We're back to the question of the lack of sporting culture in Portugal. Portuguese fans like winning; so they support the teams that win the most, that is, the big three. On the other hand, club presidents and the rest of the club structures don't know how to promote their teams, and they still cling to the idea that high ticket prices are how you make match-day revenue, to make up for low attendance. They forget that the low attendance is caused by that very same reason, the high prices. Match kick-off times don't help either.
And what's your opinion on the current state of Portuguese professional football?
Shameful, fuelled off the pitch by directors/presidents of three clubs who pass their hatred down to the fans. The media and sports shows are at the same level, which is why I don't watch sports shows or read comments/articles from those people.
Would you highlight any club or person who's had an impact on you throughout your journey as Chief Scout?
Three. Sérgio Bóris, who was Cova da Piedade's manager when I first contacted him, was the first person from the football world I spoke to after taking on the role, and he was fantastic with me, inspiring me from then on to become a club member and attend matches whenever possible. Fábio Martins, who although I don't know personally, keeps sharing his experiences with me about his saves, always has a great sense of humour, and I like to 'wind him up' with threats of raising or lowering his attributes depending on how he performs in real-life matches. All in good fun. And Pedro Solá, currently manager of Marinhense, a real football student, very knowledgeable, with whom I'm in constant contact and always up for exchanging ideas.
Any FM player will probably recognise your name more for being a regen with huge potential who shows up in practically every saves than actually for being the database's Chief Scout in Portugal. How do you personally feel seeing a player with your name and your details thriving in the game?
It's extremely funny! About a year ago, I tried googling my own name and found all sorts of stories and screenshots of people from various nationalities playing with my regen talking about what they achieved with him at their clubs. I've seen saves where I never made it past the regional leagues, and others where I was the best player in the world. A lot of Portuguese FM players, who already know who I am, like to strike up a conversation with me and tell me in detail how my has been developing. On the flip side, I've also been insulted by people who thought I'd overrated my own , not realising I have zero influence over his quality (it's random every time a new game starts). realising I have zero influence over his quality (it's random every time a new game starts).
To wrap up the interview with a personal question, what are your plans for the future? Do you plan to keep being Sports Interactive's Chief Scout for Portugal?
For as long as I can balance it with my real-life scout career, I'll happily keep doing it, even if I'm eventually forced to choose between a club and FM. It'll all depend on the club's project. So far no one's ever gotten in my way.
