Paper short abstract:

The mobility of young footballers from West Africa to Poland allows for a more nuanced understanding of meaning of success and failure that moves beyond the binary opposition of a high profile superstar and a victim duped by an unscrupulous agent prevalent in prior research on mobility in football.

Paper long abstract:

Sport occupies a privileged position among migration strategies of youth from the Global South. For young West African footballers athletic success in the Global North brings the promise of a pathway out of marginalization and poverty, and an opportunity to achieve social adulthood. Yet only a tiny fraction of thousands of young hopefuls actually make it in professional football in the Global North. Countless others who manage to migrate do not see their dream of playing professionally in one of the top European leagues come to fruition. Instead they end up on the fringes of professional football playing in lower divisions of marginal leagues. Since return home as a failed migrant is not an option, transnational football migrants from West Africa often are compelled to create an alternative avenue to achieve social personhood. The mobility of football players from West Africa to Poland illustrates precarious character of athletic migrations. At the same time, it offers a window into numerous ways Nigerian footballers negotiate their dreams and aspirations to not only overcome marginalization within local (and global) football, but also fulfill social obligations back home. Diverse realities and lived experiences of West African football migrants in Poland allow for a more nuanced and contextualized understanding of meaning of success and failure that moves beyond the binary opposition of a high profile superstar and a helpless victim duped by an unscrupulous agent prevalent in prior research on football migration from West Africa to Global North.