The Backroom Staff - Football Consultant: Batuhan Çakıroğlu

Football Consultant: Batuhan Çakıroğlu

Scouting, learning Japanese and building a career in football

As many interviewees on The Backroom Staff have highlighted, football can be a conservative industry, where connections, reputation, and formal qualifications carry significant weight. That’s why it’s especially impressive to talk to those pursuing a less traditional path in the game.

Batuhan Çakıroğlu started his journey in football while still in high school, drawing on a remarkable knowledge of global players - bolstered by countless hours on games like FIFA and Football Manager - that helped him break in as a scout. Then, during COVID, he ‘just’ picked up Japanese (!) and has become an expert in Japanese football.

This unique combination of skills has seen Batuhan active in a wide range of roles including translator and interpreter, social media expert, agent and intermediary. In this interview, he shares insights and anecdotes from his unique career in football.

The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for grammar and clarity. 

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[ Background in football ]

I didn’t really play football - I was a basketball player! I went to a private school in Ankara that was the first school that brought basketball to Ankara maybe 50 or 60 years ago. But I’ve always been a football fan - I started playing FIFA and Football Manager at 6 or 7 years old. I know every player from every country!

Also, my father was a board member at Ankaragücü maybe 20 years ago. They’re a big club in Ankara, in Türkiye, but are in the second division at the moment. So he also knows football and follows football very well.

I got into the football industry maybe 5 or 6 years ago, when I was still in high school. At the time I was studying Japanese because I wanted to go to university in Japan. Unfortunately, due to economic problems and the inflation in Türkiye, I couldn’t go. After that fell through, I started scouting and focusing on Japanese football. I started my career in football at a scouting company in Türkiye that was sharing analysis with football clubs - I was reporting on Japanese players.

I was studying communications and journalism at Ege University in Izmir but I’ve recently left my studies there. I think for everyone, developing themselves is one of the most important things but I think I’m developing more in my work in football than I was learning at university.

[ Why Japan/where did your motivation to learn Japanese come from? ]

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was so bored at home and I was playing many Japanese video games on PlayStation - so I started to learn Japanese!

Now, I’m not fully fluent but have a professional level. My Japanese is a little like my English - I’ve never lived in a native environment so I can read and write at a higher level than I can speak.

[ How did you get started as a scout? ]

I was playing FIFA Ultimate Team - even playing in tournaments. I started following people who were talking about players and scouting. Then, I started doing some scouting courses and certificates like the PFSA, the FA and other associations courses. My first job, I was uploading analysis reports to the system and also sharing some of my own player analysis reports with people and clubs in my network.

Unfortunately, in Türkiye - Japan’s football reputation wasn’t very high - or at least no one knew about Japanese players here. Maybe the reputation has increased recently because last year they had a friendly and Japan beat Türkiye 4-1!

[ Is there any connection between Türkiye and Japan football-wise? ]

There’s some connection that started in 2002, at the World Cup in Korea and Japan, Türkiye finished 3rd. After the World Cup, a few Turkish players moved to Japan as well.

Although there were a few famous players like Yuto Nagatomo at Galatasaray and Shinji Kagawa at Besiktas in the past - no Japanese players have transferred to Türkiye directly from Japan. Now, Kuryu Matsuki, a big Japanese talent is playing at Göztepe but he’s on loan from Southampton - they have the same owners.

I used to write a blog about Turkish players playing in Japan and vice-versa. Since 2021, I also run an account on Twitter about Japanese football as well.

[ Scouting –> Consulting ]

After a while, due to my Japanese and English knowledge, some of the companies requested me to become a consultant in a few areas in Japan and Türkiye. I’ve moved a little away from scouting and done different jobs including interpreting and translating, social media and working with media companies. I’ve worked with different clubs and companies, including running Atletico Madrid’s Turkish language accounts for a while.

I also worked at a Turkish analysis company, Comparisonator. They’re essentially an analysis database that compares players, so if you are at a club and are following a player in another league, you can more easily compare that player to players in your own league. I translated the application and website into Japanese and negotiated with many clubs and agencies in Japan and we partnered with a few clubs.

Another mission of my consulting, because I’m living in Ankara and Ankara’s football teams have really declined over the last couple decades due to a combination of administrative and financial problems. My mission, in the long term, is to work with Ankara’s clubs to bring them back to prominence. If you look at the all-time Süper Lig table, Ankaragücü and Genclerbirligi are 6th and 7th. I’m building good relations with Ankara’s amateur teams and sharing knowledge about growing their brands.

Most recently, I’ve started at FairSport Agency, a football agency, where I’m following players in Türkiye and Japan from senior to under 17s and below. I helped sign a few players who are now playing in the 2nd and 3rd divisions in Türkiye.

[ How does your role at FairSport work, do players come to you to facilitate a transfer? Or clubs? Other agents? ]

I’m working on their Turkish side. We’re three people here and we follow mainly Turkish players and help clubs negotiate foreign transfers. We have some promising players but FairSport has only been in Türkiye for a year so we’re still new here.

Mostly, we receive transfer requests from clubs. Then, for example, my partners and I look for players (they look mainly around Europe and I look mainly in Japan) - then we share the players we’ve found and discuss how they might fit at certain clubs between us. If there’s a fit, we can start negotiations.

Due to financial problems, Turkish Süper Lig clubs are mostly making free transfers, but still sometimes they make transfers for big fees and salaries.

[ Are you looking at coaches who might make this move to Japan or vice-versa or just focused on players? ]

Yeah, we look at coaches too - and have some who want to work in Japan. It’s really hard though, almost impossible even. Things like the language barrier are much more important for coaches (than players).

[ Connecting Türkiye and Japan through football ]

I also have a dream to make a ‘bridge’ between Türkiye and Japan. There are lots of problems in Turkish football, many clubs have big debts and struggle in the transfer market. I think Japanese players could integrate really well into Turkish football. So, I’m working on different ways for clubs to expand into the Japanese market. Recently I connected a company, Gakken - they’re one of the biggest companies in Japan and one of the biggest education companies in the world - they’re quite new in Türkiye with Göztepe. Gakken is based in Izmir and wanted to improve its marketing in Türkiye - the Matsuki loan to Göztepe was perfect timing - so I connected them to have a day at the stadium.

[ Did you have the connection with Göztepe or Gakken? ]

I - and also our company - have good links with Göztepe and I also have a connection with Gakken. Their Turkish headquarters is in Izmir (where Göztepe is) so it made sense to connect them.

I’m speaking with other clubs who want to expand their brands in Japan - this can include anything from player transfers, merchandise deals or even, like in this case, activities with Japanese companies or communities in Türkiye. I’m acting as a kind of intermediary to connect Japan and Türkiye.

[ Football is, let’s say, a pretty judgemental industry - you’ve done all this at a very young age - how have you managed to succeed despite being younger than almost all of your colleagues/peers? ]

Yes, there’s judgment every day but I’ve already broken many stereotypes. Leaving university and going all in on football was a big step. I’m 21 now but when I started, I was still in high school - how much can anyone listen to a high school student?? I think the biggest thing in this business is your network. If you can show that you do good work and people know they can trust you, doors will start to open little by little.

[ What do the next steps look like? What are your goals for the future? ]

I have different knowledge in sports marketing, administration and scouting. Currently, I have two main paths I see. First is continuing in a football agency. If we can sign players who are playing and transferring to the Süper Lig or abroad, we can make this job full time and go all in on this. The other option is to try to become a football director at a club. My experience working with agents and intermediaries and connecting with different clubs and companies can be helpful in this path too. So there are a couple of options but it will take time!

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