This paper addresses the issue of mobilities in football, dwelling specifically on African footballers’ migration to Portugal. In the last twenty years, foreign players in Portugal at the highest levels have always outnumbered national players. Portugal is a country of football migrations, both inflows and outflows. If, on the one hand, the Portuguese market focuses on players with less professional experience, and therefore less quoted; on the other hand, players perceive the Portuguese transfer market as a form of privileged access to the European market. Taking a relational approach, this paper discusses African football players’ mobility, setting the theme in the distinction between “trafficking in football” and “trafficking through football”. Based on qualitative research collected within the scope of a European project on the integration of African players in Europe, this paper raises the issue of power networks that are established in the country of origin and the host country; the recruitment structures of these players; the motivations to migrate; and finally, the ways of coping with failed projects due to the impossibility of succeeding in the highly competitive world of football.

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sport labour migration,African footballers,sports mobilities