Norwich City Scout Lands Mariela Nisotaki Promotion

Highly rated Norwich City scout Mariela Nisotaki has earned a promotion within the club’s recruitment department.

After spending three years as the club’s head of emerging talent, Nisotaki has been promoted to the role of assistant head of recruitment, where she will be working in conjunction with Lee Dunn, who leads the department.

The 35-year-old has been rewarded for her work identifying young talent whilst helping to establish City’s South American scouting operation.

Nisotaki joined City from Greek side Atromitos Athens in January 2017, having previously worked as a performance analyst at Swansea.

During her near eight years in Norfolk, Nisotaki has served in a host of recruitment roles, including lead technical and intelligence scout, European and domestic lead scout and lead recruitment analyst.

She will now help Dunn and sporting director Ben Knapper shape the club’s first-team recruitment policy after a summer that saw the Canaries bring in eight players no older than 23. Nisotaki is highly regarded for her ability to decipher and interpret data with City pivoting to a more data-led approach.

Nisotaki is regarded as one of European football’s pioneers and one of the few women in senior recruitment positions within the men’s game.

However, that is not something the Greek has ever seen as a barrier to her success, as she told the Pink Un in a wide-ranging interview back in 2020.

“I don’t find it difficult, probably because I was used to working with men because every time I was coaching I was communicating and working with men,” she explained.

Nisotaki will work closely with Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper.

“There’s a lot of discrimination in general in society, which is more important than women in football, but one thing I always say is that your difference is probably your strength, whether it’s women in football or something else.

“So for me it’s an advantage, I see it like that, and if you are working hard enough and you are confident in yourself, it’s an advantage because people remember me. If I go to a stadium they remember ‘this is Mariela from Norwich’, so that’s good.

“It’s challenging but that’s good. It’s challenging for everyone when you are working in professional football – for women and men.”