Description
Book SynopsisUsing quantitative data on player movement as well as interviews with agents, players, coaches, and team staff, The Global Migration of Soccer Players compares and contrasts the movement of highly skilled athletes to more general migrant streams. Grounded in the sociology of migration, the book addresses two major questions. First, why do players leave their country of birth to seek opportunities abroad? Second, once players find themselves living and working in a new country, how do they adapt or adjust to these unfamiliar surroundings?
Trade ReviewIn this expansive exposition, Daniel Buffington has brought together a series of important arguments that relate to the migrations of soccer players and imbued them with new meaning both methodologically and theoretically. Whilst a comprehensive quantitative analysis provides hitherto unsubstantiated scaffolding for the various chapters, theoretically Buffington offers new variations on existing themes that stretch our understanding of a number of facets of the migration process. By drawing on theories related to the migration of the highly skilled, neoclassical economics, the new economics of labor migration, world systems theory and migrant network theory, Buffington has broadened the scope of scholarship beyond the narrow confines of the study of soccer alone. He has created a far-reaching text that can tell us much about migration in its broadest sense. -- Richard Elliott, Solent University, Southampton
This is an interesting account of an important and topical subject. Daniel Buffington uses both qualitative and quantitative data to explore key aspects of migration in the global game of association football (soccer). This book makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the sociology of migration and highlights many of the challenges that people face when moving between nations. -- John Harris, Glasgow Caledonian University
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Broad Patterns of Contemporary International Soccer Migration Chapter Two: Why Do Players Migrate? Motivations for Migration and the Decision-Making Process Chapter Three: Labor Market Matching: How Players and Teams Meet Chapter Four: The Burden of Migration: Issues of Adjustment and Incorporation Conclusion: Soccer in the Age of Migration
