ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Migration and Society
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1487326
Birthplace as a capital: Migratory flow, labor opportunities, and social reproduction in Brazilian men elite futsal players' careers
Provisionally accepted
Iuri Salim de Souza1Murilo dos Reis Morbi1Illgner Veber Garcia Alves2
Christiano Streb Ricci1,2,3
Renato Francisco Rodrigues Marques1*- 1University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 2Marista School, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
- 3University of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil
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This study investigated the association between social inequality and the sport labor career development opportunities in Brazil. We analyzed the interrelation of Brazilian men's elite futsal players’ birthplaces, the clubs’ locations, and the intranational migratory flow among regions and states within this country. Understanding the athletes’ mobility is relevant to promoting equitable conditions for career development throughout different places. Brazil is a Global South country with a high level of social inequality where futsal is a very popular sport, with one of the most relevant men's national leagues worldwide - the Liga Nacional de Futsal (LNF). This league commonly counts on around 20 clubs, all located in the South or Southeast regions of Brazil, which are socioeconomically wealthier and with a higher Human Development Index (HDI). The aims of this study were: a) to analyze how men professional futsal players' migratory flow occurs in Brazil, considering and relating the athletes’ birthplace and the clubs’ location regions; b) to investigate players’ working period in the same club and the tendencies of instability/stability in job positions; c) to analyze relations between the socioeconomic inequality in different Brazilian regions and the athletes’ migratory flow. With a quantitative research approach, we analyzed the birthplaces and migratory flow of LNF players between 2013 and 2022. Data discussion was based on Bourdieusian Reflexive Sociology. Results showed that: LNF clubs are located in Brazilian socioeconomic richest regions, with most players born there; a minority of athletes remained working in the same club for three years or more. We concluded that Brazilian men's elite futsal context reproduces socioeconomic inequalities through a very regionalized athletes’ migratory flow, and provides unstable labor conditions to players, who remain for short periods joining the same club.
Keywords: Domestic move. Labor mobility. Migration. Reflexive Sociology. Sport career. Pierre Bourdieu Social inequality, Migration, Futsal, Social reproduction, Labor
Received: 27 Aug 2024; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Souza, Morbi, Alves, Ricci and Marques. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Renato Francisco Rodrigues Marques, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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