The way out? African players' migration to Scandinavian women's football

Abstract

This article looks at the ways in which the African context is reflected in African female footballers' motives for migrating to Scandinavia. As such, the article can be seen as a micro-sociological contribution to the literature on sports labour migration. This is a research area that has tended to neglect the migration of female athletes and the migration of athletes from outside the Western hemisphere. The article is based on interviews with African female footballers playing in the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish premier leagues. The interviewees' responses suggest that various motives play a role in this specific kind of athletic migration and also that the African players often have several motives, which together seem to support their dreams of social mobility – that is, being given the opportunity to enhance both their economic and social status. The article ends by discussing whether this dream is likely to be fulfilled and what are the post-career opportunities for the migrant players.

Notes

^1.Agergaard and Botelho, ‘Female Football Migration’.

^2.Agergaard, ‘Moving for the Love’; and Botelho and Agergaard, ‘Moving for the Love’.

^3. Baseball: Chiba, ‘Pacific Professional Baseball Leagues’; Takahashi and Horne, ‘Moving with the Bat’; Basketball: Maguire, ‘Commercialization of English Elite Basketball’; Maguire, ‘American Labour Migrants’; Falcous and Maguire, ‘Globetrotters and Local Heroes?’; Cricket: Maguire and Stead, ‘Far Pavilions?’; Stead and Maguire, ‘Cricket's Global “Finishing School”’; Ice Hockey: Maguire, ‘Blade Runners’; and Elliott and Maguire, ‘“Getting Caught in the Net”’.

^4.Maguire and Stead, ‘Border Crossings’; Stead and Maguire, ‘“Rite De Passage”’; Maguire and Pearton, ‘Impact of Elite Labour Migration’; Stead and Maguire, ‘No Boundaries to Ambition’; Lanfranchi and Taylor, Moving with the Ball; McGovern, ‘Globalization or Internationalization?’; Magee and Sugden, ‘“World at Their Feet”’; Takahashi and Home, ‘Japanese Football Players’; Taylor, ‘Global Players?’; Dietschy, ‘Football Players’ Migration'; Molnar, ‘Mapping Migration’; Poli, ‘Migrations and Trade’; Darby, ‘African Labour Migration’; Darby, Akindes, and Kirwin, ‘Football Academies’; Molnar and Maguire, ‘Hungarian Footballers on the Move’; Cornelissen and Solberg, ‘Sport Mobility and Circuits’; Tiesler and Coelho, Globalized Football; Elliason, ‘European Football Market’; de Vasconcellos Ribeiro and Dimeo, ‘Experience of Migration’; Taylor, ‘Football's Engineers?’; Poli, ‘African Migrants’; ‘Understanding Globalization through Football’; and Darby and Solberg, ‘Differing Trajectories’.

^5.Agergaard, ‘Elite Athletes as Migrants’.

^6.Darby, ‘Africa and the World Cup’; Poli, ‘Migrations and Trade’; Darby, Akindes, and Kirwin, ‘Football Academies’; Cornelissen and Solberg, ‘Sport Mobility and Circuits’; Darby, ‘African Labour Migration’; Darby and Solberg, ‘Differing Trajectories’; and Poli, ‘African Migrants’.

^7.Saavedra, ‘Football Feminine’.

^8.Pelak, ‘Local-Global Processes’.

^9.Saavedra, ‘Women's Football’.

^10.Saavedra, ‘Football Feminine’.

^11.Pelak, ‘Local-Global Processes’; Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class Constraints’; and Pelak, ‘Women and Gender’.

^12.Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class Constraints’; and Haugaa, ‘Football Empowerment and Gender’.

^13.Alegi, Soccer, Politics and Society; and Haugaa, ‘Tackling Femininity’.

^14.Clark and Burnett, ‘Impact of Football’.

^15.Haugaa, ‘Football Empowerment and Gender’; Groenmeyer, ‘Challenging Gender Stereotypes’; and Mills, ‘Corporatization of Women's Football’.

^16.Clark and Burnett, ‘Upward Social Mobility’.

^17.Grainey, ‘Where Cossacks Held Sway’; and Anonymous, ‘Domestic Leagues and Cups’.

^18.Tiesler, ‘Two Types of Female’.

^19.Botelho and Agergaard, ‘Moving for the Love’.

^20.Bale, Brawn Drain.

^21.Bale and Maguire, Global Sports Arena.

^22.Poli, ‘Understanding Globalization through Football’; Poli, ‘Migrations and Trade’; and Taylor, ‘Global Players?’

^23. Maguire, ‘Blade Runners’.

^24. Maguire and Stead, ‘Border Crossings’; Stead and Maguire, ‘“Rite De Passage”’; Maguire and Pearton, ‘Impact of Elite Labour Migration’; Stead and Maguire, ‘No Boundaries to Ambition’; and Magee and Sugden, ‘“World at Their Feet”’.

^25.Lanfranchi and Taylor, Moving with the Ball.

^26.Magee and Sugden, ‘“World at Their Feet”’.

^27.Takahashi and Home, ‘Japanese Football Players’; Molnar, ‘Mapping Migration’; Molnar and Maguire, ‘Hungarian Footballers’; Agergaard and Botelho, ‘Female Football Migration’; and Botelho and Agergaard, ‘Moving for the Love’.

^28. These include Skype, Facebook and email correspondence.

^29. We use pseudonyms to preserve the identity of the informants.

^30.Nowicka, Transnational Professionals.

³¹ Stead and Maguire, ‘“Rite De Passage”’.

^32.Magee and Sugden, ‘“World at Their Feet”’.

^33.Botelho and Agergaard, ‘Moving for the Love’.

^34. Poli, ‘Migrations and Trade’.

^35.Roderick, Work of Professional Football.

^36.Coakley, Sports in Society.

^37.Carrington, ‘Social Mobility, Ethnicity and Sport’.

^38.Eitle and Eitle, ‘Race, Cultural Capital’.

^39.Agergaard and Botelho, ‘Female Football Migration’.

^40.Gennep, The Rites of Passage; and Turner, The Forest of Symbols.