by Jurgen Brauer and Milos Nikolic, June 2006
Copyright: J. Brauer. No reproduction without permission.

In the United States, as elsewhere, migration has been on the political front-burner in recent weeks and months. Politicians fuss, in America as elsewhere, preferring to build physical and legal barriers to keep prospective immigrants out, rather than to open borders and welcome people in. Certainly with respect to skilled professionals that is an absurd policy. Why keep the world’s best out? The current 2006 world soccer championship being played in Germany shows, in fact, just how fluid the market for skilled talent is.

For each of the 736 world cup players (23 players times 32 teams), we recorded the country for which they play and the country in which they play professionally at the club level. Some interesting patterns about migrants and markets emerge. Some countries are colossal exporters of football talent. Correspondingly, others are massive importers.

The Ivory Coast is unique: every one of its players plays professionally in another country!

Among exporters, Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) is unique: every one of its players plays professionally abroad. Desperately poor, and with a (temporarily suspended) civil war to boot, it is no surprise that all talent that can leave has left! Of Ghana’s 23 man team, only 4 play in Ghana, but 3 each in Italy, Germany, and Israel, and two each in Denmark and Turkey. Togo exports 21 players, and Tunisia 19. But it’s not just the Africans who seek their fortune abroad. Of the 23-man Argentinian squad, only 3 play for home-country clubs. Mighty Brazil exports 20 players, Croatia 19, Trinidad & Tobago 19 as well (15 of them to England, Scotland, and Wales), and the Czech Republic a fulsome 21, as does Australia. Even Switzerland (17) and Sweden (16) are player exporters. Home country war and poverty explain a good deal of the player exports. War pushes, money pulls – just as in real life. The Aussie, Swede, and Swiss exports are explained by relatively weak home leagues. The best want to compete among the best!

The imports are also revealing. Of the 20 Argentinians playing abroad, 10 wear Spanish club jerseys; 11 Australians are signed up with English teams. And 13 of the Ivory Coast players kick the ball professionally in France, as do 7 Swiss, 7 Tunisians, and 9 Togolese (all French speaking). In one surreal match, 9 Angolans playing for Portuguese clubs lost 1:0 against Portugal, only 8 of whose players play professionally in Portugal. Clearly, colonial, and hence language, ties explain much of the player imports. By far the biggest importers of fleet feet and nimble moves are England (81 players from other world cup countries), Germany (51), France (50), Italy (38) and Spain (33). With open markets, money attracts migrants. Top importers, incidentally, among non-world cup nations include Turkey (13 players from world cup nations), Scotland (11), and Belgium and Israel (6 each).

All of Italy's - but also all of Saudi Arabia's - players kick the ball for home country clubs.

Also of interest is a look at which countries’ players stay at home for club-level play. All 23 Italian national squad players play for Italian clubs, and so do all 23 Saudi Arabian players! Other countries with home-club percentages above 50 percent are: Costa Rica (20/23), Ecuador (18/23), England (21/23), Germany (21/23), Iran (17/23), Japan (17/23), South Korea (16/23), Mexico (19/23), the Netherlands (14/23), Spain (18/23), and, somewhat surprisingly, Ukraine (19/23). That England, Germany, and Spain retain so many players reflects the fact that their home leagues have improved enough to keep talent at home – no need to play in Italy anymore! Of the others, Ecuador is sure to keep fewer players at home in future: already qualified for the second round of world cup play, its players have showcased tremendous talent sure to attract juicy offers from rich club teams. The migratory fortunes of other countries’ players likewise will depend on whether or not they make it to the second round of world cup play in Germany.

Who are the most open exporters and importers? We compute an “export dispersal score.” For example, Argentina’s 20 exports play in only five recipient countries, for a score of 20/5=4.00. Brazil’s 20 exports do little better: 6 play in Italy, 5 in Spain, 4 in Germany, 3 in France, and 1 each in Portugal and England, for a score of 3.33. The lower the score, the more dispersed the players. On that reckoning, the most dispersed exporters among those exporting 12 or more players (i.e., more than half their world cup squad) are Sweden (1.60), Poland (1.67), Ghana (1.73), Serbia & Montenegro (1.78), and Croatia (1.90). The latter two have gone through war experiences in the 1990s when their players were boys.

Likewise, we compute an “import dispersal score” for nations importing players for club-level play. France for instance imports 50 players and Germany 51, but the latter does so from 23 countries whereas France draws from only 11 other world cup nations. Thus, the import dispersal scores are 50/11 (4.55) for France as against only 51/23 (2.22) for Germany. Among the other top-importers of 10 or more players for club-level play, Italy has an even better score at 1.90 (38 players from 20 countries). Spain comes in at 2.54, Portugal at 3.00, and England at 3.52, relying heavily on Spanish, Portuguese, and English-speaking immigrant kickers, respectively. The Netherlands achieve the top score, a rather cosmopolitan 1.38 (11 players from 8 other world cup nations).

Only 17 of the 32 countries competing for the world cup have home-country coaches.

As regards coaches, only 17 national teams sport coaches from their own nation, from Angola to the USA. The other 15 nations imported their coach, among them England (with a Swedish coach). Some argue that even Germany’s coach is “imported” – although a German national, he lives in California.

At least one important aspect not captured by our data is nationality at birth. One of France’s best players, Zidane, was born in Algeria. Two of Germany’s strikers, Klose and Podalski, were born in Poland. The Argentinian defender Heinze was born of a German father and Italian mother. Even more complex, several “Croatian” players were Australian nationals – to which they or their parents had fled during the Balkan conflagration of the 1990s – but recently took Croatian nationality. And so on. This is definitely one big international market place. As befits the world’s game, it is wide open to a free exchange of professional talent. Politicians should be equally open-minded.