Paper
Social Networks and Football Migration to Turkiye
presenters
Hüseyin Keskin
Nationality: Turkish
Residence: Turkey
Istanbul University (PhD)
Presence:Online
Keywords:
football, migration, social networks, Turkiye
Abstract:
Sports labour migration at the international level has a long and complex history rather than being a new phenomenon. Considering this situation within the context of football reveals that the movements of players between countries and continents can be understood as a reflection of a complex network connecting specific nations. These movements are also affected by the current economic and power dynamics within the global football landscape. As partial liberalization of cross-border mobility, expanding football player production networks, and a recruitment network-driven migration industry reshape global football player movement, what is the impact of increasing demand for migration and the effectiveness of networks that facilitate movement on footballer migration to Turkiye?
To have an investigative approach on Poli's perspective that views sports migration as a specialized form of labour migration with significant commonalities to other forms, this article surveys for its integration into broader migration studies. More specifically, this paper argues that by building the prevalence of labour migration in football on international networks, it is more meaningful to examine the labour migration of footballers as a series of interlocking networks rather than a single global labour market. Focusing on the political economy of migration, the aim is to identify the circulation networks, structure, functioning, and the connections and relationships between football players migrating to Turkiye's top professional football league in the last decade (2014-2024) in order to better understand the mechanisms that enable mobility as well as to determine what happens at the departure and destination points of migrants. In doing so, employing migratory routes and social networks, this paper explores the economic, cultural, political, and historical effects of migration on the formation of these networks.