Brazil exports the highest number of soccer players to Europe

In the European soccer leagues, Brazil tops the number of players playing outside of their home countries.

According to the recent survey of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) in Switzerland, Brazil topped in player exports in 31 top-tier leagues in Europe with 469 players in October, followed by France (312) and Spain (201). England, one of the most prestigious soccer leagues in the world, failed to make the top 10 despite of its English Premier League, as players playing in their home leagues are not counted. From the Asian Football Confederation, Australia ranked 36th with 33 players along with Japan that ranked 41st with 27 players. Korea was not on the list. For the five big European leagues, France beat Brazil with 116 players versus 114 players. The five big leagues include the English Premier League of England, Primera Liga of Spain, Bundesliga of Germany, Serie A of Italy and Ligue 1 of France.

The two biggest reasons why many Brazilians are playing in Europe’s top-tier leagues are that there are too many soccer players in the “soccer-made nation” Brazil and players are subject to poor conditions of the Brazilian league. As much as 2 million players have registered in the Brazilian Soccer Association. To take into account non-registered players, it is estimated that Brazil has about 13 million soccer players, accounting for more than five percent of the entire population. Brazil has more than 20,000 soccer clubs across the country. On the other hand, players only receive abysmal amount of money. According to the survey conducted by the Brazilian Soccer Association of 28,000 players in early 2016, more than 80 percent of respondents said that they receive less than 340,000 won (290 dollars) a month.

For the same reason, the K-League of Korea has seen an increasing number of Brazilians coming in. In the top-tier K-League Classic, 23 Brazilians have been registered in 2016, almost half of the total 49 foreign players. Although the pay level in Korea is far lower that what is promised in Europe, foreign players in the K-League Classic receive favorable treatments. The highest-paid foreign player in Korea as of 2015 was Leonardo from Brazil who plays at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC with his salary standing at 1.296 billion won (1.1 million dollars). Another Brazilian player Santos of Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC received 730 million won (620,000 dollars). “Soccer clubs prefer Brazilian players to European players as Brazilian players are cheaper," said Choi Kang-hee, manager of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. "Brazilians also like to play in Korea as public security is more secure and payment is not delayed.”

Jong-Seok Lee wing@donga.com · Yun-Cheol Jeong trigger@donga.com