Football academy software in 2026 should cover five areas on the same data: player development (evaluations and attributes), matchday (call-ups, live match and match sheets), video, performance data, and payments and communication with families. Badgie brings all of this together in its football module, called Cantera, with a web dashboard for the club, an app for coaches, an app for families and an AI agent that reads the club's real data.
Why a football academy outgrows spreadsheets
A youth academy runs dozens of sessions a week, several matches per age group, call-ups that change at the last minute, monthly fees and parents who want to know how their child is doing. When each piece lives in a different place (a spreadsheet for fees, a chat group for notices, a folder for match sheets), the director loses the full picture and coaches lose hours. The useful question is not which app has the longest feature list, but which pieces you need and whether they share the same player record.
The checklist: what to look for
1. Measurable player development
An academy develops players, so it needs to measure progress in a way that is comparable across coaches and seasons. Badgie has FIFA-style attributes: 39 attributes rated 1 to 99 across 8 classes (the six classic ones, goalkeeping and values), an overall rating and a radar chart per player, with the history of every change and scoring per season. There is also a printable attribute sheet to rate the whole squad with a pen on the pitch, a player dossier with match-by-match data, attendance and coach notes, and a multi-season career view. Our Spanish-language article on FIFA-style attributes with radar and seasons goes deeper.
2. Evaluations parents actually read
With sport reports, the club designs its own templates using 1-5, 1-10, A-E, poor-to-excellent or progress scales. The coach scores, and the report card is shared with the family. The director gets a matrix of players by questions with averages and status. Coaches who prefer paper can score with a pen, take a photo and the report is digitised. See Sport Reports.
3. Matchday, from call-up to match sheet
This is where football-specific software earns its keep:
- Call-ups: selected or not selected (the reason is visible to staff only), meeting time and place, a note, versions with history, and "Publish changes" choosing who gets notified. Players and families get the notice in the app via push and the in-app bell. Read more (in Spanish): football call-ups in the app.
- Live match from the bench: clock by halves, score, goals with assists, cards, substitutions, opposition goals and undo, designed for a tablet. In Spanish: live match from the coach app.
- Match plan and line-up: 7-a-side, 8-a-side or 11-a-side system, positions and bench, for staff only.
- Match sheet: a paper sheet with a QR code that AI reads from a photo, reviewed before it is applied, plus import of Football ISM match reports and synchronisation with Spanish regional federations (RFFM, FFCV and RFAF). In Spanish: AI-read match sheet and federation import.
- Formations by minute: the starting shape and every change of system with its minute, plus the context of each goal.
4. Video built into daily work
Video should not be a loose file on a hard drive. In the coach app, video analysis lets the coach record or pick a clip, draw lines, arrows and shapes on it, add voice notes and send it to the player. The drill library holds up to 12 videos, photos or YouTube links per exercise, and coach notes can carry text, photos, video and audio. The club also gets a media gallery organised by player.
5. Performance data you can trust
Player stats track call-ups, matches played, starts, substitute appearances, minutes, goals, assists and cards by team and season. One important detail: when minutes are unknown, Badgie shows "—" instead of 0 and flags matches without a match sheet. On top of that you get the official league table, streak and next opponent, a weekend digest with the moments worth telling, and the planned and actual intensity and time of each session.
6. Methodology and planning
Microcycles per team with general, specific, physical, technical and tactical objectives; club-wide lists to classify exercises; a block-based session planner with a full-season grid, drag and drop, Excel import and a tactics board in the app; and a training diary with statistics.
7. Families informed and motivated
Families see the calendar in their app (every match creates its event and moves automatically if the kick-off changes), badges, reports, videos and invoices. For motivation, Badgie offers digital badges, a sticker-album of the academy with a public club page that respects consent, and a shareable player card for WhatsApp.
8. Payments without chasing anyone
Recurring fees, online payments through the club's own Stripe account, SEPA direct debit batches and VeriFactu-compliant invoicing (the Spanish e-invoicing standard), with reminders and invoices families can see in the app.
9. Internal dressing-room control
Behaviour per session (good, average or poor per player, with a reason when it is poor) and the coach's internal cards help the director read the mood of each team. Both are internal only: families do not see them.
How to evaluate a vendor
Ask any tool these questions before you decide:
- Does the match sheet automatically feed each player's stats, or do you retype it?
- Can I pull data from my federation instead of keying it in?
- Can coaches work from a phone or tablet on the pitch?
- Do families get what they should, and nothing more (for example, not internal behaviour notes)?
- Do payments and the sporting side share the same player record?
- Can I query all of this with AI, using the club's real data?
AI applied to football
Badgie's agent reads the club's football data with dedicated tools: squad, schedule, matches, standings, top scorers, player stats, call-ups, match documents and attributes. Write actions (adding a player, creating a team, importing a match sheet) are proposed and approved by the club. It also flags which players are at risk of dropping out based on attendance. Learn more about the AI team at Badgie Agents.
Where it lives in Badgie
- Club web dashboard: teams, squads, staff, call-ups, stats, attributes, reports, methodology, media gallery, finance and federation integrations.
- Coach app: call-ups, live match, match plan and formations, attributes, behaviour, video analysis, tactics board and planner.
- Family app: call-up notices, match calendar, badges, reports, videos and invoices.
- AI agent: reads the whole football module and proposes actions for the club to approve.
- WhatsApp: sending videos and photos to families, and the shareable player card.
Everything about the module is on the Badgie football page, and step-by-step guides are in the wiki.
FAQ
Does Badgie work for 7-a-side, 8-a-side and 11-a-side?
Yes. The match plan and formations support all three, with 21 systems for 11-a-side.
Can I import matches from my federation?
Badgie syncs fixtures, results, match sheets and standings with the RFFM, FFCV and RFAF (Spanish regional federations) and imports Football ISM PDF match reports. When data arrives from several sources, the federation wins, then the paper sheet, then what was recorded in Badgie.
Do parents see their child's behaviour notes?
No. Behaviour and internal cards are for staff only. Families receive call-ups, the calendar, badges, the reports the club shares, videos and invoices.
Do I have to collect fees through Stripe?
No. The club can collect cash or bank transfers and record the payment. To take payments online, it connects its own Stripe account.
