The buzz after I mentioned doing some scouting in the men’s game for Bayern Munich, during my appearance as an analyst on Swedish broadcaster SVT for the men’s team’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, is a bit of a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, I thought: ‘Why is this such big news? It shouldn’t be.’ On the other hand, I understand it and I’m happy there has been so much positivity and encouragement around it. I hope it widens people’s perspectives and helps break barriers for women working in men’s football, because I think we’re ready for that, men’s football is ready for it and it needs it. I hope it inspires other clubs to see it as a good idea. Why not give these opportunities to someone who wants them and wants to prepare for their career after football?
It’s all football: you’re watching the same game, the same dynamics and I think we can contribute to each other. One of the things that really impressed me was the reason behind Bayern wanting to get me involved. The head of scouting, Nils Schmadtke, said: “We know you’re going to offer such a good perspective. Yes, you are a woman and you’re from women’s football, but mainly you are an active football player and active football players always have a different perspective.”
It was important to me that it wasn’t a token appointment. I was actually approached almost exactly a year ago. I have been a Bayern player since 2023 and received an email from someone with a Bayern email address that I didn’t recognise. I thought they maybe wanted to talk about women’s football. As I understand it, they asked the women’s club’s director of football, Bianca Rech, whether someone in the women’s team would fit the role. Knowing that I love to watch football – I’m a bit of a nerd like that – and that I’m getting older, she recommended me.
We arranged to meet and during that meeting I realised they were interested in me joining their department. I was totally honoured. They said: “Magda, you can go home and think about it and let us know.” I said: “I don’t need to think about it.”
It felt like such a great opportunity and was something I had never imagined because in women’s football scouting departments are rare because when there are limited resources you put them where they’re most needed. Now, with more and more resources and more and more talent out there, I think creating scouting departments for women’s teams is going to be crucial for the development of the game.
After agreeing to join the department, I started my training through the summer. I even had a few sessions during the Euros in Switzerland with one of the scouts; just a few hours here and there to bring me up to speed on the way they work, the process and that side of things.
The good thing is that the guys have been really clear with me that I am a footballer first and the club would never allow the scouting to impact negatively on that. That’s been good to hear but I still struggle with it a little bit. I always want to do more, but I have to accept, especially in moments like these when we have so many games, that I can’t do everything I want to do with the quality I want to do it.
Once I began the new season, as a player, I went into the office at Säbener Strasse and got to learn the way things work in more detail. I had about six months of training, where they were sending me players they were looking at and training me in writing scouting reports and giving recommendations.
Now I’m feeling more warm in the role and I’ve started getting more responsibilities, including making more decisions about what games and players I should watch, within the remit of the type of profile of player the club want and the positional targets. They recently restructured a bit and gave me responsibility for the South American market, so that’s my main focus. It’s a mix of me keeping track of the young players in different leagues and any new ones coming up and the bosses sending promising targets or tips for me to look at. That’s been a fun new step in the process.
It’s exciting too because the individual quality in South America is unreal. Many players have moved from South America to Europe at a young age and are now world-class players and the fact that someone is keeping track of the young talent there is really important for the club.
Despite being a centre-back, I look at all positions, except goalkeepers – thank God we have a goalkeeper scout, because that’s beyond my expertise. It has been extremely interesting for me because normally when I watch a game I look at it through the lens of a centre-back. Now I’m being forced to look at it from the perspective of a midfielder, forward or a winger too and that is widening my knowledge. Understanding what makes a really good midfielder and winger is maybe something I hadn’t really reflected on.
Having my fiancee, Pernille Harder, around helps with that aspect too. She also wants to stay in football beyond playing and is super-interested in young talent and helping to develop young players. We want to see more and better academies in the women’s game. That stems from the experience most of us in the women’s game have: being coached by our parents or volunteer coaches until well into our teens and not learning a lot of fundamentals until well into our careers. She will look over my shoulder to see who I’m looking at and I’ll ask her opinion, especially when I have attacking midfielders or wingers, about the offensive decision-making and the scanning and those kinds of things that she’s an expert in. She’s a bit of a consultant.
I’ve watched a lot more of the Bayern men’s team’s games too, because I want to learn more about how they play and be able to see if a player can fit in that system. To really get to know our men’s team and watch every game has been fun, especially with the season they’re having.
The whole thing has been a great experience and super-valuable no matter what route I go down in football. I’m learning to do video edits, watching a lot of football and feel my knowledge of the game is increasing and if I become a scout, a coach, a sporting director or something else, all those are things that are important to take with me.
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