The invasion of foreign players into European club football

– Does it influence the quality of national

teams

Harry Arne Solberg and

Kjetil Haugen

This presentation

•  International movement of footballers – recent patterns

•  The consequences for national teams in: –  Importing nations –  Exporting nations

Percentage of foreigners in European leagues

Season: England Italy Spain Netherlands Norway

1992/93 8 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

1996/97 21 18 29 n.a. n.a.

2000/01 36 35 35 35 15

2004/05 40 31 30 36 21

2007/08 43 (06/07) 36 39 37 34

Major clubs – percentage of foreigners:

Club: Nation 1998/99 2007/08

Arsenal England 48 92

Chelsea England 63 59

Liverpool England 49 64

Man United England 33 56

Inter Italy 63 85

Juventus Italy 42 42

AC Milan Italy 41 54

Roma Italy 48 50

Club Nation 1998/99 2007/08

Bayern Münich Germany 28 50

Borussia Dortmund Germany 39 52

Stuttgart Germany 48 56

Lyon France 13 41

Monaco France 25 42

Paris S. Germain France 30 25

Barcelona Spain 53 65

Real Madrid Spain 48 67

Valencia Spain 56 32

Club Nation 1998/99 2007/08

Ajax Netherlands 50 45

Feyenord Netherlands 42 50

PSV Netherlands 55 68

Benefica Portugal 42 58

Porto Portugal 37 61

Anderlecht Belgium 46 55

Club Brügge Belgium 40 33

Celtic Scotland 45 38

Rangers Scotland 31 40

Brann Norway 27 32

Rosenborg Norway 12 50

The imported players origin (%)

England France Germany Italy Spain

Western Europe

58

12

34

24

31

Eastern Europe

11

13

28

19

8

Latin America

7

28

20

44

56

Africa

12

46

8

10

5

Other

12

1

9

4

1

100

100

100

100

100

Overseas TV rights – 2007/08 season

EPL Spanish Primera Liga

Italian Serie A

America €15,5 million €18,7 million €12 million

Asia/Oceania €170,5 million €25,3 million €27 million

Europe €74,4 million €49,5 million €47 million

Middle East / Africa

€49,6 million €17,6 million €14 million

Total €310 million €110 million €100 million

The consequences for national teams

Trevor Brooking (English football's director of development): •  The growing number of foreign players in the

Premier League has deprived domestic talent of first-team football. This has had a detrimental effect on England's chances of being successful in major tournaments. The national team has to be under threat - the numbers show that. I don't think you can underestimate it. It's a major concern.”

Åge Hareide (Norwegian national coach): •  “The development is unfortunate. When

young players are disallowed from playing, this will reduce the quality of the national team”.

Survey (The Football Fans Census). •  59% of English fans feared that the influx of

foreign stars in the Premier League had a negative impact on the national side.

Research question

•  Do foreigners influence the quality of national teams in: –  Importing nations – Exporting nations

Theoretical perspective

•  The quality of input (footballers) influenced by the ”daily” milieu

•  Those playing in the best leagues improve relatively to the others

•  Italy, Spain, England and Germany on top of the European club football hierarchy

Champions League - team distribution

Quarter- finals Semi-finals Finals

Italy 17 23 27

Spain 22 23 23 Germany 13 10 19 England 18 21 15

Netherlands 6 8 8 France 8 8 4 Portugal 5 1 4 Greece 4 1 0 Others 7 5 0

70 77 84

Method

•  FIFA-ranking as quality index (end of year) •  Percentage of foreigners in own domestic

league •  Percentage of national players in foreign

leagues •  Also measured lag effect

•  Performances in Champions League =>

Correlation coefficients

Between: •  FIFA-rank and foreigners in domestic

league and •  FIFA-rank and ”internationals” at foreign

teams”

Results

France FIFA-rank

FIFA-rank year t+1

Foreigners - percent

Pearson Correlation -,447 -,481

Sig. (2-tailed) ,195 ,190

N 10 9

Internationals at foreign teams

Pearson Correlation ,708(**) ,607(*)

Sig. (2-tailed) ,007 ,036

N 13 12

England FIFA-rank FIFA-rank year t+1

Foreigners - percent

Pearson Correlation ,529(*) ,547(*)

Sig. (2-tailed) ,043 ,043

N 15 14 Internationals at foreign teams

Pearson Correlation -,104 ,160

Sig. (2-tailed) ,736 ,601

N 13 13

Norway FIFA-rank FIFA-rank

year t+1 Foreigners -

percent Pearson

Correlation -,626 -,303

Sig. (2-tailed) ,097 ,509

N 8 7

Internationals at foreign teams

Pearson Correlation ,657(**) ,562(*)

Sig. (2-tailed) ,008 ,036

N 15 14

Greece FIFA-rank FIFA-rank

year t+1 Foreigners -

percent Pearson

Correlation ,393 ,216

Sig. (2-tailed) ,512 ,728

N 5 5

Internationals at foreign teams

Pearson Correlation ,553(*) ,691(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) ,032 ,006

N 15 14

Conclusions England: •  Positive correlation between foreigners in EPL and

national team’s performance •  Importing players improve the English national team(?)

France, Norway, Greece: •  Positive correlation between national team’s performance

and the number of internationals playing for foreign teams

•  Exporting players improve the national team Other factors?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!