About
About me & this project.
Who I am
I am Umir, and this is the public archive of my football thinking.
I am Umir Irfan, a football writer, analyst, and consultant. I currently work as BBC Sport's Football Tactics Correspondent.
The central ambition behind my work is to seek truth in football: to understand the game more precisely, to produce ideas that can help people, and to eventually coach at the highest level.
I have worked as a football consultant, professional football analyst, and scout for clubs in England and Italy, and with players in the top five leagues.
Background
This work is shaped by cross-domain study.
Before working full-time in football, I trained and worked as a medical doctor. Medicine shaped my relationship with pressure, evidence, communication, and responsibility. It taught me to absorb complexity, make decisions under constraint, and explain difficult ideas in a way that can be acted upon.
My football thinking is also informed by neighbouring disciplines, particularly behavioural economics, anthropology, human psychology, and cross-sport methods. I am interested in football as a tactical, cultural, psychological, and social system: a game shaped by behaviours, incentives, environments, and decision-making as much as by formations or structures.
Why this site exists
The thesis is the organising form for the archive.
At Coverciano, the thesis has long been used as a way for coaches to explore their football thinking.
This project borrows from that tradition. Each thesis is an attempt to unpack my football assertions in comprehensive depth.
The archive is designed to preserve those arguments over time. Personally, it allows ideas to be written, searched, revisited, and refined.
Publicly, the aim is to inform, provoke, and push the footballing landscape forward at both the micro and macro level through suggestions that can be agreed with, rejected, tested, or adapted.
The purpose of those agreements and disagreements is not to defend a fixed position, but to move closer to football truth. This project is a record of that pursuit and part of a body of work directed toward coaching at the highest level.
For all enquiries: contact@umirirfan.com