The European football market, globalization and mobility among players

Globalization has advanced substantially since the collapse of the Iron Curtain. This process has had a considerable impact upon the conditions of sport, including football. The focus of this study is the changes that have occurred in Swedish football from the 1990s onwards. The exchange of footballers between Sweden and other countries has accelerated within both the women’s and men’s games, especially after 1994, when Sweden became a member of the EU. The influence of globalization on Swedish football, a process with specific locations both temporally – for different generations – and spatially – in defined domains – can be measured by examining the careers of Swedish footballers moving abroad and the recruitment of non‐Swedish players to Swedish football clubs. This analysis demonstrates that there are material differences in this respect between the women’s and men’s games, although globalization has affected them both substantially.