Women’s football migration. The role of transnational networks for globalization processes

What is intriguing about women’s football as a cultural phenomenon is that unlike men’s football the finances and media interest for the game are sparse. Nevertheless we have found that migration of female football players is growing steadily and women’s football is becoming global in nature. The question is then what drives this globalization process? According to our study of women’s football migration into Scandinavia, one of the centers of women’s football, transnational networks play a crucial role in mobilizing global migratory moves.
Using the concept of friends-of-friends networks from Bale’s pioneer study of foreign athletes’ immigration into American universities and Meyer’s concept of the bridgehead this paper will describe how Scandinavian clubs use their fellow club leaders, coaches and former and present migrant players in an attempt to lower the uncertainty of future recruitments. The migrant players also use a transnational network of fellow players, former coaches and so forth in order to find vacant positions and learn about the conditions and expectations that await them. Further, the paper discusses some of the challenges that follow with this network driven globalization process for sports clubs and players alike.