CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report Issue no. 12 - February 2016 Foreign players in football teams Drs Raffaele Poli, Loïc Ravenel and Roger Besson

 The proportion of foreign players in profes- sional football teams has increased steadily over the last thirty years. This progression has been particularly strong in Europe after the intertwining of legal and economic crite- ria. The 1995 “Bosman” ruling has strongly weakened the quota regime that was in force at the time, while the development of foot- ball as part of the entertainment industry, with the notable introduction of pay tele- vision, has allowed most clubs to increase their revenues and widen the scope of their recruitment.

Up until 1985, the percentage of imported players in squads of teams in the five ma- jor European leagues never exceeded 10%. From that date onwards, the proportion of players has grown continuously. The biggest increase was observed between 1995/96, the last season before the “Bosman” ruling came into force, and 2000/01: from 18.6% to 35.6%. This growth has continued to this day although at a lesser rate.

What is the situation today in leagues world- wide? This report analyses the presence of foreign footballers in the top division cham- pionships of 37 countries: 12 European, 12 Asian, 12 Latin American and one from the United States. Within each zone, the leagues have been chosen according to their compet- itiveness. The data refers to players present in squads in December 2015 having played championship matches since the beginning of the ongoing season or that which had just finished.

1 Asia: Australia, China PR, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam; Europe: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine; Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Par- aguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela; United States: MLS.