"I HAVE NO PLAN B": THE CIRCULATION OF BRAZILIAN PLAYERS IN THE LOWER DIVISION OF SPAIN

• Grant number: 24/03791-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Sérgio Settani Giglio
• Grantee: Sérgio Settani Giglio
• Host Investigator: Juan Antonio Simon Sanjurjo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Educação Física (FEF). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain

Abstract

The aim of this research is to understand the relationship between football and migration through the life stories of Brazilian players in the lower divisions of Spanish football (1st RFEF and 2nd RFEF). Through their stories, the research seeks to understand how the process of moving between football clubs took place and what their career mobility was like (horizontal or vertical). Vertical mobility between divisions is rare and most players from the lower divisions don't make it to the elite clubs (top divisions). As a method, I will use documental analysis and oral history to investigate the trajectories of these players. Brazil stands out as the world's largest exporter of football players, and Spain, which is considered one of the top five football leagues in the world, is one of the top five destinations for Brazilian players. The research will explore complex questions about players' identities, their connection to Brazil, situations of prejudice and money as a central point of movement between clubs. It will also examine the influence of the Bosman Law on the increasingly early movement of players and seek to trace a pattern in the dynamics of movement in globalised football. Each life story is one of many possible challenges and complexities faced by Brazilian players in Spain's lower divisions, but the stories of these players, from a collective point of view, could contribute to an understanding of football beyond its media and spectacularised dimensions, placing the relationship between football and migration at the centre of the debate.