Football CV Example, Template & Writing Guide [2026]

Writing a football CV might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of what it takes to be a professional footballer. And yet, without a solid CV, it’s unlikely that a scout, coach or agent will ever see you play.

The good news? Writing a football player CV is as simple as following a proven football CV template and the right advice. Read on to see a football CV example you can personalise in a few minutes.

Stand out to scouts and coaches with a professional football CV. Pick a proven CV template and fill it out in minutes using ready-made phrases and expert tips.

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We created the sample on the left using our builder. See other good CV examples like this one.

Football CV template

Also, check our guides for:

• School leaver CV
• CV for a 16-Year-Old
• CV for a Part-Time Job
• Team Leader CV
• Football Scout CV
• Care Assistant CV
• First CV
• Graduate CV
• Personal Trainer CV
• Physiatrist CV
• Physiotherapist CV
• Student CV

Haven't found what you're looking for? Check all our CV samples.

What is a football CV and how to write one? 

A football CV, also known as a football resume or a soccer CV, is a document that outlines your playing history and achievements, awards, skills, fitness levels, and general player profile. Coaches and clubs need to see your football CV before talking further, so it’s a must if you want to be a professional player.

Now, here's how to write a football CV: 

1. Kickstart your football CV with a winning personal statement

The best scouts and agents have a knack for spotting that special something that sets good players apart from the rest. First impressions are important, and when it comes to your football CV, it’s your personal statement (also called a CV profile) that’ll carry it.

Your profile must do three things: 

• Introduce you as a football player
• Show what you have to offer the club
• Describe how your goals line up with the club’s.

You don’t need to be Shakespeare to come up with a winning personal statement for your football CV. Simply answer each of the following questions one by one, writing a total of 3–4 sentences and 50–150 words – that’s for all the questions combined.

• What kind of football player are you? Focus on your character traits, experience and favoured positions.
• What’s your most impressive professional achievement? Back it up with numbers and stats, and avoid vague answers.
• [Optional]What’s your most unique achievement? This could be an award, a record, or something similar.
• What do you hope to achieve by playing for this club? Focus on the benefits you could bring to the club, not the other way around.

Depending on where you send your football CV, it might be filtered by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Be sure to mention by name the club to which you’re applying and the position. If you’re responding to an advert or call-out, mirror the keywords used there.

Even though a CV summary goes first in a CV, it’s best that you write it last. It’ll be much easier after you’ve prepared your playing history. Keep it in the back of your mind for now and come back to it later.

Football CV example: personal statement

Convince coaches fast with a winning CV summary. Save time with expert-written statements you can adapt to your football career in minutes in the LiveCareer CV builder.

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2. Showcase playing history on your footballer CV

You’d think something was off if club stats weren’t organised in the usual way. When it comes to organising information in your football CV, stick to a chronological CV format. This means starting from your most recent playing history and working backwards from there.

This format is what most coaches, scouts, and agents are used to seeing. It’s also more easily parsed by ATSs, just in case the club uses one.

• Organise your history by using this football CV template to create a subheading for each club or team you played for:

[Role]

[Club Name, Location]

[Dates]

• List up to six achievements under each subheading. Always quantify achievements by putting numbers to the claims. Accomplishment statements can help with this. Focus on the benefits delivered to the club.

Footballer CV example: playing history

If you have limited playing experience (or are writing a CV for a job with no experience), then focus on your school and/or academy playing history. If you’re trying to get into an academy, then consider writing an academy football CV instead.

3. Don’t neglect education in your footballer CV

Your educational background is more important in a football CV than many people realise. The need to mention something like an NVQ Level 3 in Achieving Excellence in Sports Performance or a BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Sports is pretty obvious, but non-sports-related education is important too.

You can use the following football CV template for both university degrees and other tertiary qualifications, like NVQs and BTECs:

[Degree Type] [Degree Name] (Degree Class), [Years Attended]

[Institution Name], [Institution Location]

If you’re still in the process of studying, then include an expected graduation date. If you don’t have a university degree, then use the following templates to outline your secondary education:

A-levels: [Subject Name 1], [Subject Name 2], [Subject Name 3]

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

[n] GCSEs (including Mathematics and English)

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

*where n is the number of GCSEs you completed.

Football CV example: education

Expert tip: Your club might be able to support you in doing an Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE). This could be another route to a professional contract and may be worth considering.

4. Put relevant skills on display in your football CV

The skills you include in a CV will depend on the exact role and/or position for which you’re applying, as well as the particular club or team. To save time, prepare a master list of your football skills and then simply copy from it when needed.

• Open a new document and start brainstorming all the football skills you can think of. 
• Back each and every skill up with a sentence or statistic that shows how you’ve put that skill into action on the pitch. For example, instead of just writing ‘fast runner’, give your official PB for the 100 m sprint. 
• Save your master list of football skills.
• Copy 5–10 skills from the master list into the football CV. Pay close attention to any requirements specified by a coach, agent, or advert when responding to one.

This creates a football CV skills section tailored to the application at hand.

Footballer CV example: skills

If you want to know what your fellow players or competitors write in their football CVs, here are a few handy stats:

5. Use extra sections strategically in your footballer CV

There’s a lot that’s crucial in a football CV that just doesn’t fit the usual mould of work experience, hard and soft skills, and so on. Use additional sections to better cover the special requirements of a football CV template.

• Include a section with current season statistics (things like number of passes, pass accuracy, tackles won/lost, etc.).
• Applying to play overseas? Add a section on any relevant visas or your citizenship status in the given country, as well as any languages you speak.
• Feature a CV section that links to a brief highlights reel or clip of you playing.
• Sections covering awards, trophies, additional qualifications and certificates, even hobbies, are all potentially good ideas.
• Think about which additional extracurricular activities you could add to make yourself a more attractive choice to coaches and scouts.

Football CV example: additional sections

6. Support your football CV with a cover letter

Just as there’s no such thing as a one-person football team, your CV won’t make it past the competition without the help of a football cover letter. Remember: always include a cover letter unless you’ve been explicitly asked not to do so. You should also write a new cover letter for every application.

The good news is that it’s not as difficult as it may seem. In fact, you’re already halfway there once you’ve prepared the playing history section. You’ll need 3–4 achievements, and you’ll be done in no time. 

Your football cover letter should include:

• Header set out according to British standards
• Appropriate salutation
• Opening that grabs the reader’s attention from the outset
• Showcase of on-field and related achievements
• Wrap-up that ties up loose ends and a clear call to action
• Sign-off that matches the salutation.

A football cover letter that ticks all the boxes will be between 0.5–1 A4 page long, about 250–400 words in total.

7. Keep these formatting rules in mind for your footballer CV

A team that wanders out onto the pitch in unkempt and mismatched uniforms is probably still going to make a better impression than a football CV with odd formatting, spelling, and grammar mistakes throughout. You’re not getting signed for your writing skills, but you will be judged on your CV all the same.

Your CV should be easy to read – coaches, scouts, academies, and agents all get inundated with football CVs and can only dedicate a short amount of time to each one.

Here’s how to make a football CV easier to read quickly:

• Put your contact details near the top of your CV.
• Use subheadings and plenty of blank space to clearly break your CV structure down into logical chunks.
• Choose an appropriate CV font, sticking to the default Liberation or Calibri when in doubt.
• Always attach your CV as a PDF file unless explicitly asked for something else.
• Stick to a CV layout that has one page maximum. CVs basically should be one page long.
• View free CV templates to find the one that is clean and simple.

Review both the football CV and cover letter for spelling and grammar errors. Use spellcheck tools or web apps, and have someone else proofread to catch what might have been missed. This demonstrates attention to detail rather than language skills.

Career tip: If you receive no response after a week, follow up with a brief phone call or email. This shows professionalism and may provide insight into the application status, including whether a scout might attend the team’s next match.

Remember: scouts don’t wait, and neither should you. Use the LiveCareer builder to create a football CV that highlights your skills, stats, and potential – no writing experience needed.

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I hope this article has answered “What does a football CV look like?” For more CV-writing tips, head over to our blog. Good luck – and here’s to your next big opportunity on the pitch.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with LiveCareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.

Sources

• Universities UK (2024), What do we mean by tertiary education?
• The Ladders (2018), Eye-Tracking Study