Football Labour Migration: Player Acquisition Trends in Elite Level European Professional Football 2004/05 to 2008/09
Martin Littlewood, David Richardsson, Christopher Mullen
Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, England
Introduction
Sports labour migration has been a common feature of most countries throughout history, with athletes moving within and between continents and countries for the purposes of work. In recent times however, the speed and volume of such labour migration, in particular professional football, has been the centre of much debate in both the academic community and governing bodies (e.g., Maguire & Pearton, 2000). Concerns embrace both host and donor countries in terms of the de-skilling of donor nations and dependant development of host countries by acquiring talent from donor nations (Darby, 2005). The introduction of the 4+4 rule by UEFA (UEFA, 2005) and FIFA’s proposed 6+5 rule by 2012 are both attempts to safeguard the development and progression of homegrown players. In that sense, this study embraces a longitudinal perspective of player labour migration and attempts to offer a more precise perspective on the successful progression of indigenous homegrown and non-indigenous homegrown players in European football.
Method
Data was collated via a number of official player directories (i.e., European Football Yearbooks and Official club websites) for the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the French Ligue 1, the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga from the seasons 2004/05 to 2008/09. Data was systematically inputted into the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS V17). The coding of specific variables in the database enabled the effective management and analysis of a vast amount of quantitative data (over 8000 entries).
Results & Discussion
Findings revealed that the Italian Serie A had the highest presence of indigenous homegrown players within its league over the time period (66.8%), followed by the La Liga with 65.1% and Ligue 1 with 54%. The Bundesliga had the lowest number of indigenous homegrown players with 43.4% followed by the English Premier League with 50.2%. In terms of non-indigenous homegrown players, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and the English Premier League were highest with 5.6%, 5.1% and 5% respectively. The Bundesliga had the highest prevalence of foreign players (i.e., any player born outside of their club’s country without any inherent claim of that nationality) in the league throughout the time period with 51.5%, followed by the English Premier League with 44.8%. Specific clubs that had European competition exposure within each league evidenced high levels of indigenous homegrown player progression (e.g, Lille FC, 53.6%; FC Barcelona 44.9%), whilst others demonstrated low levels on indigenous homegrown players in their squads. Further analysis of the data set will reveal migration patters regarding player type and appearances, playing position and nationality.
References
- Darby, P. (2005). The New Scramble for Africa: African Football Labour Migration to Europe. The European Sports History Review, 3, 217-244.
- Maguire, J. & Pearton, R. (2000). The impact of elite labour migration on the identification, selection and development of European soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 18, 759-769.
- UEFA (2005). Formação recebe luz verde. Retrieved April 25, 2005, from http://pt.uefa.com/news/newsId=297234
