00:00You already know that soccer has undergone huge transformations in recent years. The goalkeeper
00:05has to play with his feet, the center back needs to know how to build up, and the forward is
00:10only
00:10useful if he presses without the ball. Everyone looks at this real revolution in the game and
00:15thinks that all of it came from Europe. But if you've believed that up until now I'm here to
00:20tell you that you're wrong and that soccer's true revolution is rooted in the NFL, yeah,
00:25that's right, American football. And if you're still doubting it, get comfortable in your chair
00:31because I'm going to show you. American football is the most tactical sport in the world and the
00:38official sponsor of the NFL sneakers invited us to show that the similarities between both sports
00:44go way beyond the name. Check it out. Player specialization by role is perhaps one of the
00:51most visible influences. The player doesn't need to master every single situation in the game.
00:57He needs to be extraordinary at what his role requires. In soccer, this evolution is heading
01:04in a very similar direction. Back then, we used to divide the field into just a few positions,
01:09goalkeeper, fullback, center back, midfielder, and forward. Nowadays, soccer's vocabulary is much
01:16broader and more specific. We have the ball-playing center back, the inverted fullback, the wingback,
01:23who provides depth, the box-to-box midfielder, the wide winger or the 1v1 winger, the mobile forward or
01:29the penalty box finisher. The conceptual influence in this case is very clear. It's not enough to just
01:35know the player's position. You need to understand what their specific role is within the system.
01:41And this also changes the type of signing. The club stops looking for a good player and starts
01:47looking for the one who will solve a specific problem. A good example of this is the center
01:52back position. Whereas previously, the primary role of a defender was just to defend the box,
01:58clear balls, and be good in the air, today, that's a fundamental part of playing that position.
02:04In certain teams, it's the ability to play out from the back. If the team aims to set the
02:10tempo, build from the back through possession, and commit numbers forward into the attacking half,
02:16they need center backs who master the first pass, know how to beat the opponent's press,
02:21and find smart solutions to drive the team forward on the pitch. In Brazilian football,
02:27for example, Flamengo's duo of Leos exemplifies this perfectly. Two center backs with great chemistry
02:34and teamwork. Being built up play that carries the team from defense to attack, often finding line
02:40breaking passes and putting the forwards in a much better position to create. In the NFL,
02:46one of the most well-known positions is the quarterback. An offensive player whose primary
02:53job is to start the plays and make the passes that drive the team downfield.
03:00If we bring this reality into soccer, you can pretty much draw a parallel with a deep-lying
03:05playmaker. If in the early days of soccer, the number five was often a tackling specialist who
03:13swept in front of the box, today that role is very different. On many teams, the number five is the
03:20team's brain, the guy who reads the game and transitions the squad from defense to attack.
03:26His passes and ball carries directly influence how the team advances into the attacking half
03:31and creates its dangerous plays.
03:35In this NFL soccer parallel, the wide receiver position can be compared to the winger who plays
03:41wide out on the flank to provide width. The movement of stretching the opposing defense,
03:49receiving the ball right on the touchline, and often cutting sharply inside on a diagonal that ends
03:55in a goal. In this evolution of the game in recent times, wingers have been the players who gained the
04:02most prominence and have also had the biggest impact within their teams. Another point is the coaching
04:08staff structure, which involves the manager, who centralizes the organization, but also a
04:14multidisciplinary team. In the NFL, the sport is built on a division of responsibilities. There are
04:22specialists for offense and defense, special teams, quarterbacks, lines, analytics, and strength and
04:27conditioning. Medicine, recruiting, and even strategy. Soccer is heading in a very similar direction. The
04:35manager, of course, remains the key figure. But more and more, coaching staffs have specialists in
04:43very specific parts of the game, building increasingly stronger teams that pay close attention to detail.
04:51Assistant coaches, performance analysts, recruitment analysts, fitness coaches, physiologists, nutritionists,
04:59sports psychologists, data analysts, and set-piece specialists. The analyst, for instance, is no longer
05:06just someone who cuts videos and gathers material for the coach to review. They've taken on a role that's
05:12almost like translation, turning that information into something the coach can actually use. This logic
05:19is divided into four pillars. Information, interpretation, decision, and application on the pitch. And this
05:27might be the most crucial point, because having tons of data is useless if it doesn't answer the question
05:34what to do in the next match. Of course, specialized professionals are nothing new in football.
05:42For a long time, the sport has had nutritionists, psychologists, fitness coaches, but this range of
05:49specialists within a coaching staff is expanding significantly and for very specific tasks.
05:56For instance, at Arsenal last season's Premier League champions, a name was frequently mentioned,
06:03stood out, and even became a chant among the Gunners supporters.
06:07Nicolas Jova, the set-piece wizard behind the team that handles this aspect of the game better than
06:14anyone in the world. At Flamengo, where he won multiple titles with Felipe Luis, Rodrigo Cayo had a
06:21very similar role. He was the mastermind behind the design of the set-piece plays. In fact, the goal
06:28that secured the Libertadores title came from a play the assistant drew up during the week and put into
06:34practice in the Libertadores final. Showing that this kind of modernity isn't just found in the NFL or
06:40in international soccer, it is already present in Brazilian soccer. Showing that the level of detail
06:47in the sport today is huge and often crucial to securing a win and capturing a title at the end
06:54of the
06:55season. A specific focus on a department, something the NFL has been doing for a long time. And by the
07:03way,
07:04this feeling that soccer has outgrown soccer is old. It's not something new. Anyone who has been
07:10studying the game closely for a long time has noticed the changes coming from other sports,
07:15how they influence soccer, and how they can help answer crucial questions that will define whether
07:21a team succeeds or fails in a season. Thanks Seekers! Thank you so much for the invitation
07:26and for your trust. We're in this together.
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