Transfer patterns in the Swedish football clubs – a gift economy of loyalties and emotions

ABSTRACT

This article explores how football players and scouts in Sweden narrate their stories of transfers within the Swedish football system. This article presents first-person narrations as male players as well as scouts from elite clubs were interviewed in connection to transfer patters to, from and within Sweden. The aim is to analyse how the transfer system takes shape in stories presented by scouts and players, and what it can tell about the football transfer market. The interviewed persons present story logic while constructing a narrative of transfer patterns. Theoretically, the study is framed using Marcel Mauss concept of gift economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Swedish football
• football players
• transfer system
• gift economy

This article explores how football players and scouts in Sweden narrate their stories of transfers within the Swedish elite football system. The way players are bought and sold has long been controversial. From the very beginning players were able to change clubs, but on a limited scale. Regulations prevented free movement until 1990s, until a player Jean-Marc Bosman went to the European Court of Justice with his case when he wished to change from a Belgian to a French club. Fees that were to be paid prevented the transfer. In 1995, the decision came that the fees restricted freedom of movement. The now famous “Bosman ruling” made it possible for players to change teams, when their contracts expire, as free agents, opening up for a market where players on contracts were bought and sold on regular basis.¹ Since then, there has been mixed opinions and often-critical views of the market, as the practice of buying and selling players increased over the years. In general, clubs that allow club ownership, for example in England or France, tend to attract rich investors that can buy best players, who tend to be expensive.² Neymar, a Brazilian player was bought by PSG for 222 million euros from Barcelona in 2017. In 2022, Alexander Isak became the most expensive Swedish player when he transferred from Real Sociedad to Newcastle for 72 million euros. In both cases, the critique touched upon the source of investment, as both Newcastle and PSG run on oil money provided by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, respectively.

The concerns about the ever-growing number of transfers include concepts of locality, authenticity, regionalism and globalization, but also the position players have, i.e. being forced to move.³ In 2008, the FIFA president Sepp Blatter made a controversial comment: “I think in football there’s too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere”.⁴ The comment referred to the transfer troubles experienced by Christiano Ronaldo, one of the most famous and best-paid player in European leagues, who later said in an interview that he felt like a slave when Manchester United did not want to let him change club.

This article does not seek to engage in moral opinions about the modern transfer system. Rather, it takes into consideration how players talk about it, how they justify it and explain why things are the way they are. An additional voice is present as scouts are also included. These two groups rely on each other and work for each other, yet they present different perspectives on the system. This approach does not claim to paint the whole picture about the transfer motivations, but it nuances the discussion and presents an additional layer that can contribute to the understanding of engagement in modern football. The study is limited to Sweden, but Swedish and foreign players were interviewed. They all played in the highest Swedish league Allsvenskan. The interviewed scouts also represent the top tier. The main question is: What do players and scouts communicate when they talk about the modern transfer system?

Background

There is a long and complex process behind the transfer system. Professionalization was a major factor, and it arrived in Scandinavian countries rather late. Starting from 1967, Sweden experienced “comparatively late but rapid professionalization” of football.⁵ The 1990s marked the beginning of fully professional teams.⁶ Before that, players combined football with different kinds of employment. In Sweden, firefighters or military personnel were often players. Amateurism was favoured for a long time and any attempts to pay actual salaries were punished.⁷ After the Bosman case, money started to play a big part and rich clubs could amass squads from around the world, draining local teams.⁸ The modern reality of “football mercenaries” has been criticized in the Swedish context as destroying clubs’ local characters and accusing footballers of egoism.⁹ Certainly, there is nostalgia for the “good old days” when local boys played in the local club, and regional identity and patriotism are sometimes presented as threatened by the modern system.¹⁰ Yet, it is a reality that most accept. Every now and then though, the amount of money spent on a player raises eyebrows and prompts discussions. In the Swedish context, fans often claim a strong position in their clubs and boast about their influence. However, because of the scope of this article, their voices are not included. Swedish fans have expressed criticism, disillusion about it all being “for profit” but simultaneously they can show strong emotions towards players that appear in clubs for just several months.¹¹

The topic of transfers has appeared in various articles. There are multiple studies interviewing footballers.¹² Additionally, media material or statistics and surveys have been used. For instance, López Fríaz analyses a high-profile transfer of Gareth Bale in the frame of “corporate social responsibility”.¹³ The article focuses on the amount that Bale was bought for by Real Madrid (100 million euros) in the time of economic hardships in Spain. Other aspects, as post-soviet era migration of players has been investigated,¹⁴ rates of foreign players’ appearances in various leagues¹⁵ or the quantitative variables of changing players within the European market.¹⁶ Lanfranchi and Taylor outlined the historical patterns of player migration, both European and transcontinental, providing a glimpse of the social history of international football.¹⁷ Lally, Smith and Parry use autobiographies of high-profile players as a source material to analyse transfers.¹⁸ In a similar manner, de Vasconcellos Ribeiro and Dimeo work on media reports and articles in order to discuss transfer experiences of Brazilian players.¹⁹

This article presents first-person narrations as male players as well as scouts from elite clubs were interviewed in connection to transfer patters to, from and within Sweden. The aim is to analyse the modern transfer pattern while looking at the stories presented. The interviewed persons present story logic while constructing a narrative of transfer patterns

Method and material

This article is based on interviews with scouts and players from Swedish football clubs. Four scours were interviewed (from Hammarby IF, BK Häcken, IFK Göteborg and AIK). All informants were connected to the clubs from the highest Swedish league Allsvenskan. The players, during the time of interviews, worked for Degerfors IF, Djurgårdens IF, BK Häcken, Malmö FF, Helsingborgs IF, and AIK. The interviews, both on the phone and in person, were conducted according to ethical requirements and followed the structure of semi-structured interviews.²⁰ The material has been transcribed directly into English.

Choosing and selecting cases in qualitative research is sometimes referred to as “sampling” – defining a group or population, deciding on a size and determining the representativeness of the study.²¹ The clubs included differ geographically and financially, some being stable elements in the highest league, some going up and down the Swedish league system. Access to the field is crucial. To secure interviews, I contacted sport directors or Supporter Liaison Officers in respective clubs and asked for a possibility to interview. My requests were sometimes declined, but mostly the clubs were ready for cooperation. On rare occasions, I asked for a specific player that had a history of transfers, but mostly I let a club direct me to a player that could be interviewed. Hence, there is a variation in voices presented. All the approached scouts agreed for an interview directly. In Cultural Studies, an interview is viewed as a social situation, depending on an interviewer as well as on an interviewee. It is not just about obtaining objective information. Rather, Anthropologists and Ethnologist see it as a form of communication and the material as socially constructed.²² Reflexivity and awareness of the positioning are essential.

There are 12 interviews used in this article. Four with scouts and eight with players. Four of the players were not Swedish. One of the scouts had a long career as a player, and he shared his thoughts from that point of view on a few occasions during the interview. The project followed the ethical guidelines provided by the Lund University and the Swedish Research Council. The names of players and scouts were changed. To further protect identities of my informants, the clubs’ names were removed when mentioned. Thus, informants are referred to with a nickname, position (scout or player) and the date of the interview. Footballers are used to interviews with press, but rather careful of what they say. There is a concern about saying something that might hurt them or their present club. However, after interviews players often expressed content. One commented when I thanked him for his time:

That’s nothing. It’s actually nice to say what one thinks, to say what one has been pondering about, like about football here and stuff.²³

Such attitude was quite common. A level of carefulness was still visible though. The scouts were eager to share their thoughts, and gave answers that could be described as “unfiltered”. Although open and honest, their identities shall be protected and their club identities were removed for the purpose of this article.

Theoretical frame

In order to analyse the interviews, I apply Marcel Mauss theory on gift economy. In this well-known text, Mauss presented a comparative study of exchange systems in Polynesia, Melanesia, and the American Northwest, among other locations.²⁴ With the subtitle The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, Mauss presents accounts of complex gift-giving systems, providing a specific economic structure based not on monetary exchange but gifts, material objects, that build social structures through binding participants together in a web of obligation and reciprocity. Mauss noticed that this “gift giving” and “gift receiving” made up an alternative economic pattern that helped to sustain and build alliances and support the social order.

The generosity of a gift as a part of an economic system, as Mauss presents it, implies reciprocity and bounds a receiver to a giver. There is an obligation to repay, and there are expectations. A gift has a value that can translate to an economic status. Mauss states that the terminology is not satisfactory, as “the gift” is “neither that of the free, purely gratuitous rendering of total services, nor that of production and exchange purely interested in what is useful. It is a sort of hybrid that flourished”.²⁵ In the gift economy system presented by Mauss, material possessions play a crucial role. It is through those tangible tokens, with ascribed symbolic value, that alliances and connections can be forged. In this article, the gift is more abstract, as I focus on emotional exchanges. Although one can see transfers as mere commodity exchange (players as commodities), there is plenty of symbolic value, prestige, expectations and emotions that should be taken into consideration. Transferring a player has undoubtedly an economic dimension, but the gift exchange, in contrast to commodity exchange, can build a community, it creates worth, but also dependence, and the “decision process is based on the demands of community and reciprocity”.²⁶

The Gift has been used extensively in studies in Cultural and Social Sciences.²⁷ It has been shown to offer an additional layer of economic exchange and could be framed as an institution of gift giving.²⁸ I apply the concept of the gift to highlight and understand the additional level of exchange that surpasses the monetary incentive, and allows the system to thrive. It has become clear in the interviews that there are different investments being exchanged, monetary value being just one of them. Because players change clubs rather quickly, there is a constant flow of people, hopes and identities. Hence, the theoretical frame of gift giving and receiving seems appropriate. Gift exchange as a theoretical frame was used, for example, to explain fandom and the purchase of fandom-related goods that stretch beyond the monetary market and help build communities.²⁹ Presented by Mauss as an alternative, older economic system, it is not only supplementary to the current one. Engagement and emotional connections can be forged, elements that are crucial in modern football leagues.

On the move

Male football players have a persistent image of following the money and not displaying other than financial loyalties, mostly connected to high-profile transfers visible in the media. Certainly, they change jobs, cities, countries and continents rather often. In an interview in 2012, a non-Swedish footballer, Peter, pondered about the rotation in the club:

And actually … during the four years, if I would guess a number, surely around 30–40 players left and new ones came. So, the change, in this work the change is constant. In the … in the football team. Every year new ones come and every year some leave. And so, some of the best friends I’ve ever had are gone now from the team. (…) But you actually get used to it, you just know that this is how football works.³⁰

The number that Peter gave surprised me. Thirty to forty players a year seems a lot. Plenty of variables are in play here: coach favours someone else, the contract expires, one gets injured, a partner does not want to move, a club is not pleased with the performance, or a club needs money and has to sell. Peter was in his early thirties, and he was preparing to do something else than play football soon. Still, he managed to transfer to Denmark after his six-years contract expired. Younger footballers can appear to speak with feverish excitement about transfers, like for example Jon:

In the summer of 2014 I got transferred to [this club], it was a dream come true, of course there are different dreams now but it was very good for me. (…) Of course, everybody has his own path, but Sweden is good to play (…) I would like to transfer in Europe, Holland or Denmark maybe, a better league. Denmark is considered a step forward but then many Danes transfer now to Sweden too so … well I don’t know.³¹

Jon was very sure his journey was just starting. Young and eager, he viewed a Swedish club he transferred to as a step up, with possible other steps coming. Certainly, a lot depends on the performance and abilities. A quick search reveals that Jon has landed in Italian football, in Serie B, playing in six different clubs in the last five years. There is an understanding, though, that you shall be on the move, that it is good for you and your career. Another player, Kenth, had similar perceptions on time lines in football:

I think there are more transfers the past ten years, it is like 1–2 years in a club, like about two years now. It is complicated with loyalties. All those players that a club won’t have … well they have to change then. I went to this Polish club. It was a little of a dream to play abroad. It was super fun. But I got injured and then it went badly for the club.³²

Kenth was still in his 20s, hopeful for further developments, waiting for some big transfers. He seemed to know how to navigate the system, and he too noticed the speed of change. It is complicated with loyalties if one cannot stay longer than two years. Kenth’s story also includes an injury, something that reappears throughout interviews. Best of intentions and best of transfers can fail when your knee, ankle or muscle give in. Several players that I interviewed throughout the years mention a rather bad injury happening almost directly after a transfer. What is intriguing in his quote is the mentioning of a dream. It is also a reoccurring theme in the interviews. Players often mention the dream of going abroad, experiencing another league, another style of play, and making an impact there. There are expectations to every transferred player. Fans can react with excitement to a new footballer, putting pressure on the performance. However, there is often a concern if a player is worth the money, especially if the amount is substantial. The fulfilment of a dream, a gift received, comes with “a burden attached”.³³ One of the characteristics of a gift is the increase of status as it is given away.³⁴ Fans can embrace a player, put trust in him, print his image on t-shirts, chant his name during matches. With that, they give away devotion and tie the player emotionally to them. Their status increases as they can use a figure of a player to communicate a specific identity.³⁵ One needs to play well, but important still, to forge some sort of connection with the spectators. To make a good story, to use a footballer to create an image for the club, the said footballer does not need to be the best ever on the pitch. Fans are able to construct identities even from “broken” performances.³⁶

When unable to play, their careers are at risk of stagnation or even termination. Further, changing accommodation every two years seems like a daunting prospect, not to mention work place, co-workers, friends, sometimes even a country. A lot is sacrificed. For example, one player said:

But of course, it doesn’t last your entire life, and then when the career finishes you have to go and find something else. So, it’s like you have to think what I’m going to do after this, cause at one point you cannot play football anymore. And it is demanding and it is work, although some people think it is easy and you just go and kick the ball a bit and then you get money from that … but you have to be ready the entire year … and you have to be careful what you eat, and you don’t have weekends like normal people.³⁷

The difficulties connected to rapidly changing work place/living space are not mentioned often. Sometimes it is even disregarded. One of the scouts, Sten, put it bluntly when asked about the fairness of the system:

Researcher: Do you think it is a fair system? With selling and buying players rather quick and often?

Sten: Hmm … there is a bit to think about. But players want to be sold. And he has to be willing to go. You cannot force them. Well of course it can be so that a player cannot play, doesn’t get the time, so … but they get so much money, it is so good with money for them. I have very little sympathy for footballers.³⁸

This scout expressed little understanding for the players. “They get so much money” was his mantra. The salaries footballers get are often considered high and that seems to be used to justify the existence of the market and the pressure to change clubs often. Thus, money becomes the element that makes everything all right. The gift giving in form of emotional reciprocity did not concern this scout much; it was not what a transfer was supposed to be about. Sten perhaps thought that it was too much money, but at the same time putting, seemingly, all the exchange into the monetary one made it difficult to question the transfers or the practices around them. Simultaneously, Swedish football fans try to highlight whenever they can that football is not about money and should not be about money.³⁹ Sten’s answer seems cold, but scouts are aware of the difficulties and know that any transfer is a gamble involving different stakes and stakeholders. As one scout, Elias, said:

It is sometimes difficult with acclimatization. We get offers daily from around the world. We have one scout that does like quick scanning if it would be a relevant player, like position, age, years in a club (…). Historically England is a dream transfer land, not many get sold there. But Denmark is a step up, and then Holland is a step up, and so on. But many are for example in Turkey. But it is a bit unstable, they offer good money, but many things are not that easy there.⁴⁰

Here, Elias touched upon “a dream ladder” connected to transfers. Players dream of certain clubs and leagues. The expectations expressed tie them to the gift-exchange. A promise of engagement and good performance can translate into a sign contract. Another scout, August, expressed similar sentiments:

It is relatively attractive here [Sweden]. There is a lot of spectators, and that is always appreciated by players. And it is a safe country. There are few problems with your salary or with your family, when you need to establish your family.⁴¹

Being able to play is one key factor, but also money that could be made, money that the club could make on a particular player, then the family situation, safety etc.⁴² Dreams, expectations and hopes are mixed with statistics on stamina and goals scored. The interviewed scouts mentioned the other elements: devoted fans, stability, acclimatization, ability to go upwards as well. Not only wealth can appear to be exchanged, but also good luck, ranks, and achievements.⁴³ A player who wrote himself in the group memory of a crowd will be welcomed in a new club together with his hero-status.⁴⁴ The triangular exchange between fans, clubs and players has to take money and competence into consideration, but thrives in narratives about passion, devotion and love.

It is money, or is it?

Scout Sten used captivating phrases when describing the modern football market system:

Researcher: Do you think it works well then?

Sten: Yes, it does function rather well. Of course, this market and agents … difficult to do anything about it really. It has nothing to do with scouting as such. It is a bit about where we see us in the hierarchy, especially here in Sweden. Players want to be sold.

Researcher: What about continuity?

Sten: Here we managed to have continuity, in this group. But … hmm … it is a food chain and you know your place and what you need to do in your position to survive. We have to sell and buy.⁴⁵

The amounts of money seen in football can appear staggering, yet the business side of it is not easy to maintain.⁴⁶ In the interview, Sten was focused on the financial possibilities throughout the interview, and he mentioned hierarchal positioning, and continuity that is guaranteed, partly, by financial security. The “food-chain” metaphor is intriguing. All the scouts had no illusions as to how they were placed in the football world. Some leagues, like the Swedish one, are perceived as a “step forward” to bigger, wealthier clubs.⁴⁷ Marcel Mauss claims that the system of exchange observed means that everything, “food, women, children, property, talismans, land, labour services, priestly functions and ranks – is there for passing on, and for balancing accounts”.⁴⁸ Although modern football market seems far away from pre-industrial gift-giving systems, similar exchanges happen there. Marked officially with money, bodies, emotions, hopes, promises, identities and even loyalties are continuously exchanged. One can buy and sell loyalty and devotion in football precisely because it is not just a monetary transaction. Players would praise a club that was currently employing them, they would keep fans in high regard, but they are always ready to move.

Scouts and players are aware of the extra layer that is invested and exchanged. Scouts are almost like hunter-gatherers in their job descriptions. You find a good product, take care of it, polish it and let it play, effectively putting it on display. This could have a rather colonial ring to it as all the scouts spent plenty of time searching through Africa. The criticism of the rather “one way system” has been present in football research for some decades.⁴⁹ My informants mentioned various African and South American countries, together with the Balkans as favourite spots for scouting. This is a global trend, with many young players moving to European or Asian football markets from those locations.⁵⁰ For example, we discussed successful transfers with August:

Researcher: Are there any transfers that you are particularly proud of?

August: Yes, there are like 2-3 cases, from Africa, they were sold for really good money.

The “money talk” in Swedish football is somewhat muted comparing to other leagues. It is not a secret that in comparison, Swedish Allsvenskan is not a rich league. Even though it is at times a point of grief among fans, it is also lifted as something positive, as clearly Swedish football is not only about money. In 2017, Djurgårdens IF, a club from Stockholm, organized a campaign during a match about protecting football from financial pressure. A big banner appeared with a line borrowed from the Beatles: “Money can’t buy me love”.⁵¹ Leaflets were distributed and the message clear: football should be about passion, commitment and love, not money. However, one group involved, the players, is often viewed as being clearly “for the money”. Not only in personal salaries, but also as investment tokens for clubs. One of the scouts, Elias, also estimated an average contract being around one to two years and added: “Is it good? Well, economically yes, you can have a player for 1–2 years and then sell”.⁵² The purchases are made with an incentive to sell quite fast, or rather that it is often a viable option. During the interview, Sten gave such answer to a question about personal satisfaction connected to transfers:

Reasercher: Are you particularly proud of any of the transfers that you managed to secure?

Sten: Quite a few actually, quite a few. When you have a player in lower divisions and then we see something in that player, something extra, and then you sell him for big money.⁵³

One young player I interviewed, Alex, experienced pressure to transfer very early on in his career, but declined to move. In his own words:

Big leagues are about money, unlike in Sweden, money is a big question and issue. It’s everybody’s dream to play abroad, and earn more money. When I was 14–15 I had offers from many clubs all over the world but preferred to stay (…), didn’t want to leave my family and friends, I do not regret my decision.⁵⁴

It was an intriguing statement, pointing out a dichotomy between being about money yet not being about money. Alex suggested that money was not such an issue in Sweden as in other countries. Certainly, there is less money there and clubs cannot be privately owned. Alex’s choice was not based on salary only either. The connections between players, fans and clubs are not straightforward, and mix what Marcel Mauss calls “personal and real law”, or gift and formal exchange.⁵⁵ This means that hard currency is not enough for a transfer to happen. A pledge, a gift of personal engagement has to be made. August, currently a scout but with a long playing career, gave a lengthy answer:

I was transferred to Denmark, to Bröndby because of a friend that was in the same club. Like he recruited me. But they bought a lot of players at the same time and many did not fit in, like in a style of play, how you play, but also mentally, so there were no good matches. The game did not feel good and was not good. (…) Transfers depend on many things. Like you move all the time, and then your wife has to move too. It is easier when you are only two. But then with children some countries become uninteresting, like not an option. And the older you get the fewer alternatives you have. And clubs are different. Some help a lot, some not at all. (…) Most players look at football aspect, play aspect, first. Am I going to have playtime? The club has to have trust in you. And then you can consider if there are possibilities to develop. But in the end, when your contract expires … it is about if you can play, can be on the pitch, and if you feel good, not that much the money.⁵⁶

During the interview with Kenth I asked about club preferences. I was curious if players advised one another. My guess was that substantial informal knowledge moves around:

The clubs do their research about players but the chat of course happens among players. You talk about other clubs, but everyone makes one’s own decisions. (…) Of course there are clubs that I would not transfer to. But I will not give any names.⁵⁷

It was clear that there were preferences and awareness that some clubs one would not transfer to. Players hinted at an additional discourse running parallel to the muscle-for-money story and pragmatism related to changing clubs. Some clubs are for you, and some are not, no matter the finances.

Money vs ‘blood, sweat and tears’

In 2017 supporters of a Stockholm-based club AIK made a chant directed to players, which included a hard-shouted line “We want to see you sacrifice blood, sweat and tears”.⁵⁸ There is a demand for engagement, commitment, feelings towards a club, even though a player might spend very short time there. Even though money is always on the agenda, something else is exchanged while the game is on, and both sides seem to understand that. Supporters and players mention the emotions, belonging, gratitude etc. One of the interviewed scouts pondered how players could fit the identity of the club and help to build and sustain it:

Researcher: [Your club] has a strong identity, you could say. Would you say that when scouting one searches for someone fitting in that identity? What would that be?

Hasse: Yes, of course. But what is it? (laughs loud). It is about the style. It is someone that is going to work in [this club]. Our identity … well those working for the club, of course, they make it. And, of course, people who buy tickets and yearly passes, and want to see football. We need to give them something that they are going to like to see, and want to see. (…) But they (the players) need to know what it means to play for [this club].⁵⁹

This presupposed, rather stable identity delivered on pitch stays in a stark contrast with footballers constantly travelling between different clubs and leagues. However, the contrast might work in favour of a club’s identity, as players have just and just enough time to adapt and fit in, and not enough to permanently change or influence it. Certainly, some are given that possibility, but these are rare examples highlighting the norm. In other words, the stability of the system might lie in its instability. Thus, players bring a gift of constant movement that keeps stable clubs’ identities, sustained by supporters. The theory of a gift includes a state of being “borrowed” and the borrowing has its power as long as the object is in proper use.⁶⁰ Footballers quite literary borrow their abilities to not only run on a pitch, but also to carry emotions and engagements, abilities to partake in identity building of a club in exchange for career development and a possibility to become meaningful, memorable figures.

Not only muscles or joints are strained there. One player in the middle of the career reasoned about the stress surrounding transfers:

It is very individual, not a clear path that you can just follow. And it is fine, it works, but it is also stressful. Especially when your contract is about to expire. What then. It can be a lot of stress and you talk to so many people. And sometimes you need to make a very quick decision. The transfer can be very stressful and the transition is stressful. Sometimes it is in such a hurry. Sometimes it is one year in a club.⁶¹

In a way, it is a rare comment. Statement like “it is the market”, “the market decides”, “this is how it works” are common and in a way justify how things are done. Players know how to list the positive elements, and certainly the love of the game ranks high. It is inadvertently an explanation for the entire system – if you want to play, you accept the transfer. And transfers sustain modern football. The justification of the phenomenon is then in the description of the phenomenon. Elias, scout for one of the big clubs, discussed the attraction with the Swedish league, even in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

Elias: I am a lot in west Africa, Nigeria for example, and South America. I am flying to Ivory Coast next week.

Researcher: Now? Even with Covid?

Elias: Yes (laughs), flying there. You can still fly.

Researcher: What is attractive for players in those countries in Allsvenskan?

Elias: It is a big step for them. As a league it is a big step. Then you can go further later. (…)

Researcher: Isn’t it going a bit too fast?

Elias: It does, definitely. You have to search all the time. There is interest from other clubs, and of course players have their own will and wishes.⁶²

Sten, representing another club, added to this discussion:

Researcher: Is Allsvenskan an attractive spot for players then?

Sten: Oh yes, I would say so. We have fantastic supporter culture. So many people watching. So, if you are in Serbia for example, and you show pictures or videos from matches then they are impressed and eager to be there. And Allsvenskan lets you go further later.⁶³

All the interviewed players were quick to say “the fans are fantastic”. To be there, hear a crowd roar, to participate in the roller coaster of emotions are elements that players want to experience. There is an exchange based on reciprocity. Because fans care and show it, players’ performance gains in value. It is not just about scoring goal, it is about developing social relations.⁶⁴ The joy of playing football nowadays includes engaged fans that make sure one’s movements on the pitch become meaningful, no matter the result.⁶⁵ Even though money is always there, the dazzling atmosphere, devotion and engagement are often brought forward as important and meaningful. Players commented on the fans coming with flares, called the ultras.⁶⁶ Jacob said:

The ultras groups, well the groups are great, with atmosphere and all, but of course it can get too much, and especially violence is just childish. But I am happy that they are there. But of course, you have clubs like Dortmund where the atmosphere is fantastic and you don’t have this going over, becoming too much. Some players might have more contacts with those groups, but not us.⁶⁷

Even though careful with not supporting behaviour that is in fact illegal (like flares), players liked the “extra touch”, preparations and respect felt from the fans. Jacob continued:

Jacob: I like our supporters a lot. They make great atmosphere for every match. They devote so much time. And all around Sweden they go to support us. But at the same time, one hopes that they can take it easy with the flares and that… it hurts the club, it is illegal.

Researcher: So, you don’t like the flares?

Jacob: I do like the flares, but those that make so much smoke that go down the pitch… those they could stop with (laughs).⁶⁸

There is a labour distribution during matches. Players deliver on the pitch and supporters make their own shows, grabbing attention, sometimes criticism, and providing security concerns, yet also illustrating the emotional engagement that is craved in modern football.⁶⁹ The emotionality is visible throughout a game, providing different possibilities for players to engage with the spectators, media, and even other players.⁷⁰ There is an obligation to accept the gift of colourful (perhaps a bit dangerous) displays as part of the atmosphere and indication that one cares about the game.⁷¹ Gustav, interviewed in 2014, had a more personal story to tell:

Researcher: What do you think about the fans?

Gustav: They are incredible. But in the beginning I didn’t like them cause they did not like me. Because after one game, when I was young, we went to the fans, and they started booing us, and as I said I’m a bit of South-American, so I reacted by doing this (shows his middle finger). It became a very big thing for 2 years, every time I got the ball there was (whistles) and then it changed, and now I can say, without being cocky, that I’m the favourite player for most fans. So, the fans are incredible and I’m enjoying playing for them.⁷²

Gustav was very proud of his journey with the fans. There was a connection that made him a meaningful and memorable figure. There were stickers with his face, a t-shirt with his silhouette, even banners with his name. In his employment history, Gustav came back to this club three times, being sold or let go, yet he kept returning. Every time he would mention in press interviews fantastic supporters that made him feel special. All of the interviewed players appeared to carry expectations together with obligations when speaking about transfers. In this way, players emerge as both producers and consumers, gift-givers and receivers.

A gift exchange of emotions, engagement and identity

The first and easiest, somewhat, layer of exchange is about money. From the interviews with scouts it emerges as the primary focus to find an investment in a form of a player. He should be bought cheap, be easy to maintain and then sold for large sums. That provides necessary nourishment to a club as a whole. It is thanks to that money that they can survive. The aforementioned “food chain” position, that Swedish clubs are aware of, makes it necessary to accumulate funds in such a way. For players, too, it is a logical “journey upwards”, but money comes as one of the components. Bigger clubs with more money usually have bigger fan groups, more exposure, and more media time. They can also produce more emotional engagements. The idea of exchanging something else than monetary value is tangible in the material, and it nuances the discussion about the development of modern football. By no means has it exhausted the research possibilities. Although limited in scope, the study provides personal narratives based on the transfer system and the cultural meanings that can be attached to them. Thus, money becomes a means of achieving something, not a goal of itself.

When organizing transfers, scouts also take into consideration the identity or character of a club. The new player has to fit with difficult parameters provided by supporters. He has to engage with a club, and show loyalty, be someone fans enjoy watching on the pitch. The emotional exchanges between players and fans are difficult to grasp or frame. Yet, they do happen, even if players stay for one or two years. Together with ability to play and good salary, footballers indicated in the interviews that fans, the atmosphere, boiling emotions that they can experience, are important factors. Scouts also mentioned these, as it was one of the selling points of Allsvenskan – to play for a crowd that is engaged.

Buying cheap and selling expensive is not enough of a structure to have a completely successful transfer. Among the parameters, emotions, engagement and identity emerge. The football market might be then described as “emotional economy”. The emotionality of transfers is also visible in the over-the-top sums spent on players. The “worth” of a footballer seems to be an intersection of abilities, prestige, hopes, expectations and even loyalty. A measured value can have different functions. A transfer is simultaneously an investment, a step in a career, a pledge to supporters. The story needs to include not only commodity exchange (e.g. market values of a player) but further, it encompasses the emotionality visible among all the groups involved – hope for becoming meaningful, building a club’s identity, being able to connect to a player during his time is a club. When all the interested parties are taken together, a transfer emerges as a gift which function is to sustain a club.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The funding has been provided by Crafoordska Stiftelsen (2019); The Crafoord Foundation in English

Notes

1. Antonioni & Kubin ’The Bosman Ruling and the Emergence of a Single Market in Soccer Talent’, 157–173; Szymanski Football economics and policy, 27–51.

2. Bi Integration or resistance: the influx of foreign capital in British football in the transnational age, 17–41

3. For example Ludvigsen ‘Foreign ownership in the Premier League: examining local Liverpool fans’perceptions of Fenway Sports Group, 602–625; Ludvigsen Transnational fan reactions to transnational trends: Norwegian Liverpool supporters, “authenticity” and “filthy-rich” club owners, 872–890.

4. There are serious accusations of football fuelling real slave market with young African players being exploited. Concerns about that sip sometimes to daily press, for example: https://www.footballparadise.com/the-dark-side-of-the-beautiful-game-footballs-african-slave-trade/(16 March 2022); https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/31/field-of-broken-dreams-footballs-slave-trade-photo-essay (31 December 2019)

5. Billing, Franzén and Peterson “Paradoxes of Football Professionalization in Sweden: A Club Approach”, 82.

6. Gammelsæter 2009 “The organization of professional football in Scandinavia”, 305–323; Andersson and Carlsson “Football in Scandinavia: a fusion of welfare policy and the market”, 299–304.

7. Sund Fotbollsindustrin, 52–61.

8. Frick & Simmons “The footballers” labour market after the Bosman ruling’, 203–226.

9. Schoug Intima samhällsvisioner, 50.

10. Herd “We can make new history here”, 113–121.

11. Ibid. 252–260; Radmann, Andersson and Herd “A Struggle Between Loyalty and Commodification: Scandinavian Football Fans”, 81–105. The topic of what (if any impact) fans can have on transfers is vast and should be studied further.

12. Andersson and Barker-Ruchti 2018; Elliot 2014; Eliasson 2009.

13. López Fríaz “Football transfers and moral responsibility”, 560–572.

14. Molnar “Mapping Migrations: Hungary Related Migrations of Professional Footballers after the Collapse of Communism”, 463–485.

15. Darby “Differing trajectories: football development and patterns of player migration in South Africa and Ghana”, 118–130; Akindes “South Asia and South-East Asia: new paths of African footballers migration” 684–701; Nolasco “Player migration in Portuguese football: a game of exits and entrances”, 795–809.

16. Xu “The formation mechanism of the player transfer network among football clubs”, 704–715.

17. Lanfranchi and Taylor Moving With the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballers, 2001.

18. Lally, Smith and Parry “Exploring migration experiences of foreign footballers to England through the use of autobiographies”, 529–544.

19. de Vasconcellos Ribeiro and Dimeo “The experience of migration for Brazilian football players”, 725–736.

20. Davies Reflexive Ethnography, 107–108.

21. For example Emmel Sampling and choosing cases in qualitative research : a realist approach, 2013.

22. Fägerborg “Intervjuer”, 85–113.

23. Interview with Jon, player, 21 Apr 2016.

24. Mauss The Gift, 1990, 4.

25. Ibid. 73.

26. Gavin & Philipps Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters, 2005, 27.

27. e.g. Bergeron “Marcel Henaff’s Anthropology of Recognition and the Question of Symbolism: On the Relevance of Rereading Mauss after Levi-Strauss”, 179–201; Stephenson “Gift and Reciprocity at Work? Using Mauss to Explore Justifications for the Solidarity Day in the Aftermath of the 2003 Heatwave”, 343–361.

28. Cedrini et.al. ‘Mauss’s The Gift, or the necessity of an institutional perspective in economics’, 687–701.

29. Löfgren … And Death proclaimed ’HAPPY HOGSWATCH TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT’*. Intertext and Folklore in Discworld-fandom, 2015.

30. Interview with Peter, player, 20 Oct 2012.

31. Interview with Jon, player, 21 Apr 2016.

32. Interview with Kenth, player, 21 July 2020.

33. Mauss The Gift, 41.

34. Gavin & Philipps Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters, 27.

35. Herd “We can make new history here”, 225–239

36. See Herd ‘From a body to a story. Transformative narratives in Swedish football’, 95–121.

37. Interview with Anton, player, 16 Jan 2013.

38. Interview with Sten, scout, 27 Feb 2021.

39. Herd ‘We can make new history here’, 100–108.

40. Interview with Elias, scout, 24 Feb 2021.

41. Interview with August, scout, 27 Jul 2021.

42. Elliott ‘Brits abroad: a case study analysis of three British footballers migrating to the Hungarian Soproni Liga’, 517–534; Richardson et al. “An examination of the migratory transition of elite young European soccer players to the English Premier League”, 1605–1618.

43. Mauss The Gift, 45.

44. Herd ‘We can make new history here’, 230–244.

45. Interview with Sten, scout, 27 Feb 2021.

46. van Uden ‘Transforming a Football Club into a ‘Total Experience’ Entertainment Company: Implications for Management’, 184–198; Storm The rational emotions of FC København: a lesson on generating profit in professional soccer‘, 459–476.

47. e.g. Farrell “One-way traffic? 100 years of soldiers, mercenaries, refugees and other footballing migrants in the League of Ireland 1920–2020”, 873–886.

48. Mauss The Gift, 14.

49. Even though the trends are pointing into majority of players transferring to Europe and not out of it, and also to the biggest leagues (Poli 2014), there are cases of players moving, for example, from England to Hungary (Elliott 2014). An additional level of concern emerges because of the discrimination of minorities in football labour market (Reilly 2014).

50. e.g. Müller “Local relations and transnational imaginaries: football practices of migrant men and women from Andean countries in Spain”, 596–617; Darby & Solberg Differing trajectories: football development and

patterns of player migration in South Africa and Ghana’, 118–130; Acheampong “How does professional football status challenge African players” behaviour?’, 131–157; Akindes “South Asia and South-East Asia: new paths of African footballer migration” 684–701; Shokkaert Football clubs’ recruitment strategies and international player

migration: evidence from Senegal and South Africa‘, 120–139.

51. Herd “We can make new history here”, 110.

52. Interview with Elias, scout, 24 Feb 2021.

53. Interview with Sten, scout, 27 Feb 2021.

54. Interview with Alex, player, 18 Sep 2012.

55. Mauss The Gift, 54.

56. Interview with August, scout, 27 July 2020.

57. Interview with Kenth, player, 21 Jul 2020.

58. Herd “We can make new history here”, 223.

59. Interview with Hasse, scout, 03 Feb 2021.

60. Mauss The Gift, 24.

61. Interview with Nick, player, 25 Aug 2020.

62. Interview with Elias, scout, 24 Feb 2021.

63. Interview with Sten, scout, 27 Feb 2021.

64. Bell “Modes of exchange: Gift and commodity”, 156.

65. See Herd ‘From a body to a story. Transformative narratives in Swedish football, 95–121.

66. Doidge, Kossakowski & Mintert Ultras. European Football Fandom in 21st century, 2020.

67. Interview with Jacob, player, 06 Mar 2015.

68. Interview with Jacob, player, 06 Mar 2015.

69. Herd “Constructing football through magic. An ethnographic study of football supporters”, 1045–1057.

70. González-Ramallal et.al. “Postmodern footballers and their ‘second skin’: emotional narratives ranging from solidarity to intimacy”, 437–452.

71. Mauss The Gift, 41.

72. Interview with Gustav, player, 30 Oct 2014.