Out of 752 players of the 36 national teams participating in the 2002 FIFA Soccer World Cup
47 % had contracts in other countries. This graph displays the number of these players for each
of the national teams and where these had contracts.
Football is not only big business but also an interesting example
how
internationalization
proceeds. Network analysis and network drawings can help to document
and explore
what is going on in these international markets.
These images are my contribution to the viszards session at the
International Sunbelt
Social Networks Conference in Portoroz (Slovenia) 2004. The viszards
group has
analyzed these data in much greater detail. Expect deeper
theoretical insights on
this international sports- and media-market from our
forthcoming joint paper.
Which players play in which country?
(click image to enlarge)
Out of 752 players of the 36 national teams participating in the
2002 FIFA Soccer World Cup
47 % had contracts in other countries. This
graph
displays the number of these players for each
of the national teams and where these had contracts.
The size of the countries stands for the number
of players with international contracts. The
colors of the countries indicate their geographical region. The
colors of the links the region of the
national team a player belongs to having a contract in another
country. The size of the links
corresponds to the number of the players.
For example: members of Nigerian national team (NIG) have contracts
in Switzerland (CHE),
The Netherlands (NLD), England (ENG), Belgium (BEL), France (FRA)
and Russia (RUS).
England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France are the countries
that host players from many national teams.
