Football Talent Migration from Africa and Brazil to Europe: The Portuguese Case
Football Talent Migration from Africa and Brazil to Europe: The Portuguese Case
The migration of football labour into Western Europe has increased dramatically over the last two decades with much of this flow stemming from Africa and South America. This process has been hugely significant for the football industry in both the receiving and sending continents and has repercussions that extend far beyond sport and popular culture. The significance of football talent migration has recently been recognised as an important focus of scholarly research, internationally and across a range of academic disciplines and this has led to an emerging body of literature (Darby 2000; McGovern 2002; Magee & Sugden, 2002; Bale, 2004; Poli, 2006; Darby 2007a, 2007b; Alvito 2007; Darby, Akindes and Kirwin, 2007; Tiesler & Coelho, 2007).
This project aims to contribute with unique, comparative and empirically rich analysis to the developing research field and to the state-of-the-art in studies in International Migration, by comparing the migration of football talents, labour, and underage players, respectively, with three types of international migration, namely: brain-drain (here "muscle-drain"), labour and children´s migration (incl. trafficking).
Through field studies we will examine a number of migratory pathways, namely: Brazil to Portugal, Denmark and Germany; Lusophone Africa to Portugal; West Africa to Denmark and Germany. These are well-trodden routes in the international migration of football players. To further enhance our understanding of the ‘push' and ‘pull' factors that impact on the decisions of football migrants, this project also examines the role of South Africa as a conduit through which African players migrate to European countries. Thus, the research question is: What are the causes and consequences of football migration into a Northern, Central, and Southern European country from main sending countries in Africa and South America? This question is underpinned by a series of more specific cross-cutting questions:
Estatuto:
Proponent entity
Financed:
No
Rede:
X
Keywords:
Football Talent Migration, Africa-Brazil-Europe-Portugal, 4-Country-Team, Comparative Analysis of 4 Case Studies
The migration of football labour into Western Europe has increased dramatically over the last two decades with much of this flow stemming from Africa and South America. This process has been hugely significant for the football industry in both the receiving and sending continents and has repercussions that extend far beyond sport and popular culture. The significance of football talent migration has recently been recognised as an important focus of scholarly research, internationally and across a range of academic disciplines and this has led to an emerging body of literature (Darby 2000; McGovern 2002; Magee & Sugden, 2002; Bale, 2004; Poli, 2006; Darby 2007a, 2007b; Alvito 2007; Darby, Akindes and Kirwin, 2007; Tiesler & Coelho, 2007).
This project aims to contribute with unique, comparative and empirically rich analysis to the developing research field and to the state-of-the-art in studies in International Migration, by comparing the migration of football talents, labour, and underage players, respectively, with three types of international migration, namely: brain-drain (here "muscle-drain"), labour and children´s migration (incl. trafficking).
Through field studies we will examine a number of migratory pathways, namely: Brazil to Portugal, Denmark and Germany; Lusophone Africa to Portugal; West Africa to Denmark and Germany. These are well-trodden routes in the international migration of football players. To further enhance our understanding of the ‘push' and ‘pull' factors that impact on the decisions of football migrants, this project also examines the role of South Africa as a conduit through which African players migrate to European countries. Thus, the research question is: What are the causes and consequences of football migration into a Northern, Central, and Southern European country from main sending countries in Africa and South America? This question is underpinned by a series of more specific cross-cutting questions:
Objectivos:
This project aims to contribute with unique, comparative and empirically rich analysis to the developing research field and to the state-of-the-art in studies in International Migration, by comparing the migration of football talents, labour, and underage players, respectively, with three types of international migration, namely: brain-drain (here "muscle-drain"), labour and children´s migration (incl. trafficking). <p>Through field studies we will examine a number of migratory pathways, namely: Brazil to Portugal, Denmark and Germany; Lusophone Africa to Portugal; West Africa to Denmark and Germany. These are well-trodden routes in the international migration of football players. To further enhance our understanding of the ‘push' and ‘pull' factors that impact on the decisions of football migrants, this project also examines the role of South Africa as a conduit through which African players migrate to European countries. </p><p>Thus, the research question is: What are the causes and consequences of football migration into a Northern, Central, and Southern European country from main sending countries in Africa and South America? </p><p>While this study is not aimed at making policy based interventions in the governance of sports talent and labour migration, it does have potential to influence political and public debates on the subject. A public dissemination of the project findings will take place through on-going communication with interested parties such as football governing bodies, sports clubs and the media. </p><p>Among the expected outcomes of the Portuguese team are 1 PhD thesis, 1 edited volume and/or a monograph, as well as 2 articles in high ranking peer reviewed journals. </p>
State of the art:
<p>The significance of football talent migration has recently been recognised as an important focus of scholarly research, internationallyand across a range of academic disciplines. This has led to an emerging body of literature. </p><p>Much of the resultant scholarship has interpreted the migration of athletic labour (of different sports) as a process that both contributes to and is a consequence of modern globalization in the fields of sports and far beyond. As a result, there is a growing trend to conceptualise this phenomenon by drawing on a framework cognisant of theorectical approaches to globalisation (Darby 2000; McGovern 2002; Magee & Sugden, 2002; Bale, 2004; Poli, 2006; Darby 2007a, 2007b; Alvito 2007; Darby, Akindes and Kirwin, 2007; Tiesler & Coelho, 2007). </p><p>This project continues in this vein but combines perspectives from within social sciences of sports and with those of Studies in Migration, Ethnicity, Racism and Postcolonialism. The here proposed transcontinental, pan-European and interdisciplinary study on international migration and trade of athletic talent includes a strong focus on the subjective experience of players of different age from Brazil and Africa who's trajectories lead to (and across) different schools/academies, clubs, countries and professional contexts. </p><p>The economic, cultural and social causes and consequences of athletic talent migration in labour recipient and exporting countries resonate with much of the broader legal and political discourse on migration into Europe (IOM 2003; VanSelm/Tsolakis 2004; European Commission 2004; Goedings 2005; Penninx 2005). Athletes are interesting informants in migration studies since their temporary and relatively loose integration into the host societies show new forms and dynamics of migration of specialists </p><p>The causes and consequences of athletic talent migration reach beyond an particular impact in the sending- and receiving countries, and far beyond the areas of Sport and Popular Culture. The complex legal and the ambivalent public debates, as well as an increasingly lucrative and organised "business" in and around the movement and mobility of celebrities, trainee players and young (partly under age) football talents from South America and Africa to Europe must be seen as an integral part of international migration. And still, apart from single scholarly works, the subject as such and the subjective experience of these migrants in particular are still mostly overlooked in social research concerned with migration in the first place (and not with sports). </p><p>Consequently, it is high time to discuss the phenomen in a wider sophisticated theoretical framework of Migration Studies, Studies in Sport, Ethnicity and Racism, based on comparative transcontinental and pan-European ethnographic case studies. </p><p>At moving in a theoretical framework which includes broadly Marxist interpretations of global development (dependency paradigm, world systems theory and opportunities for resistance and counter hegemonic tendencies), it will discuss and contrast views of exploitation and neo-imperialist relations (macro and meso level) with those perspectives which highlight the social mobility of migrants and emancipated (and emancipatory) transnational practise (meso and micro level). </p><p>Alvito, M. (2007). "Our piece ... Brazilian football and globalisation". Soccer and Society, 8 (4): 524-544. </p><p>Bale, J. (2004). "Three Geographies of Africa Footballer Migration..." in Armstrong, G. & Giulianotti, R. (eds), Football in Africa:..., Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke/New York: 229-246. </p><p>Darby, P. (2000). "The New Scramble for Africa: African Football Labour Migration to Europe". The European Sports History Review, 3: 217-244. </p><p>Darby, P. (2007a). "Out of Africa: The Exodus of African Football Talent to Europe". WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labour and Society, 10 (4): 443-456. </p><p>Darby, P. (2007b). "African Football Labour Migration to Portugal: Colonial and Neo-Colonial Resource". Soccer and Society, 8 (4): 495-509. </p><p>Darby, P, Akindes, G and Kirwin, M. (2007). "Football Academies and the Migration of African Football Labour to Europe". Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 31 (2): 143-161. </p><p>European Commission (2004). Common Basic Principles for Integration. JHA Council. </p><p>Glaser, B. & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine. </p><p>Goedings, S.A.W. (2005). Labor Migration in an Integrating Europe.... The Hague: SDU. </p><p>Hammersley, M. (1989). The Dilemma of Qualitative Method. London: Routledge. </p><p>IOM (2003). World Migration. Managing Migration - challenges and responses for people on the move. Geneva: IOM World Migration Report Series. </p><p>Maguire, J. (2004). "Sport Labour Migration Research Revisited". Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 28 (4): 477-482. </p><p>Magee, J. & Sugden, J. (2002). "`The World at their Feet´: Professional Football and International Labor Migration". Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 26: 421-437. </p><p>McGovern, P. (2002) "Globalisation or Internationalisation? Foreign Footballers in the English League, 1946-95". Sociology, 36: 23-42. </p><p>Penninx, R. (2005). "Integration of migrants: economic, social, cultural and political dimensions", in M. Macura et al. (eds.), The new demographic regime. Population challenges and policy responses. NY/Geneva: United Nations, 137-152. </p><p>Poli, R. (2006). "Africans' Status in the European Football Players' Labour Market". Soccer and Society, 7 (2-3): 278-291. </p><p>Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage Publications. </p><p>Tiesler, N.C. & Coelho, J.N. (2007). "Globalized Football at a Lusocentric Glance: Struggles with Markets and Migration, Traditions and Modernities...". Soccer and Society, 8 (4): 419-439. </p><p>Van Selm, J. & Tsolakis, E. (2004). EU Enlargement and the limits of freedom. Migration Policy Information Source, <u>http://www.migrationinformation.org/issue_oct04.cfm</u>. </p>
Parceria:
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