Paper short abstract:

The economic expansion of emerging countries has consequences in unexpected market segments. Using data from a multi-sited ethnography, this paper analyzes  changes in the flow of football "celebrities," i.e. the increased  flow  from global clubs to Brazilian-clubs in recent years, as well as the growth in transactions of Brazilian footballers in the BRIC countries, involving celebrity players in Russia as well lesser known  players in China and India. The main interest is in understanding the players’ perspective on the meaning of this two-directional mobility for themselves and their entourages.  The majority of these payers come from low income families and attend evangelical churches. I also found that these immigrant athletes are increasingly younger. I conclude that the constant change of employer (club or global club), countries and the large number of ‘repatriates’ characterise this migratory movement as a circulation. It is what the players call ‘rodar’, cast positively as an opportunity for amassing experience. This circulation takes place in protected zones, where a banal nationalism (Billig, 1995) is constantly activated. Even after obtaining legal citizenship, they continue to be seen and to perceive themselves as foreigners. In this case, therefore, nationalisation has a strategic purpose (Sassen, 2008). I conclude that these players cross geographic borders without really entering the countries, because their borders are not national but those of the clubs.

Paper long abstract:

The economic expansion of emerging countries has consequences in unexpected market segments. Using data from a multi-sited ethnography, this paper analyzes  changes in the flow of football "celebrities," i.e. the increased  flow  from global clubs to Brazilian-clubs in recent years, as well as the growth in transactions of Brazilian footballers in the BRIC countries, involving celebrity players in Russia as well lesser known  players in China and India. The main interest is in understanding the players' perspective on the meaning of this two-directional mobility for themselves and their entourages.

 The majority of these payers come from low income families and attend evangelical churches. I also found that these immigrant athletes are increasingly younger. I conclude that the constant change of employer (club or global club), countries and the large number of 'repatriates' characterise this migratory movement as a circulation. It is what the players call 'rodar', cast positively as an opportunity for amassing experience. This circulation takes place in protected zones, where a banal nationalism (Billig, 1995) is constantly activated. Even after obtaining legal citizenship, they continue to be seen and to perceive themselves as foreigners. In this case, therefore, nationalisation has a strategic purpose (Sassen, 2008). I conclude that these players cross geographic borders without really entering the countries, because their borders are not national but those of the clubs.