INTRODUCTION:
Major international football events are more than showcases of athletic achievement; they also provide a unique lens on societal dynamics such as globalization, labor migration, and institutional interdependence. this study aimed to characterize and compare the globalization profile of top-level football competitions (FIFA World Cup, UEFA, CONMEBOL, and AFC) from 1991 to 2025 using affiliation data and social network analysis.
METHODS:
For each tournament edition, we constructed a bipartite network linking participating national squads to the domestic leagues of the clubs employing national players. A geometric phase-space analysis was performed using reduced major axis slope differences and centroid distances for three network metrics’ couplings: (C1) % of home-based players (FIFA 43.2±13.9, UEFA 36.2±17.5, CONMEBOL 49.6±23.0, AFC 33.7±14.4, respectively) vs. number of participating teams (30.2±4.1, 17.8±5.8, 12.3±1.8, 16.4±4.3); (C2) number of players based in non-participating, intercontinental leagues (16.8±6.9, 27.0±19.7, 15.7±7.3, 35.9±12.5) vs. % of non-participating intercontinental leagues (26.83±18.68, 37.35±31.45, 27.21±18.80, 60.33±13.57); and (C3) percentage of players based in foreign leagues located in participating countries (27.7±15.5, 22.7±21.0, 21.4±15.7, 5.9±2.3) vs. number of participating teams (minus one to exclude self-loops).
RESULTS:
C1 slopes were negative for AFC (−0.31; 95% CI [−0.68, ≈ 0), FIFA (−0.19 [−0.41, −0.16]) and UEFA (−0.577 [−0.78, ≈ 0]), indicating that editions increased participating teams with time with lower share of home-based players. Interestingly, CONMEBOL centroid had higher proximity with UEFA (d = 0.42) and larger distance with AFC (d =1.07).
For C2, slopes were positive for AFC (0.62 [0.46, 0.97]), CONMEBOL (0.42 [0.33, 0.51]) and FIFA (0.87 [0.42, 1.35]). This indicates growing non-participating intercontinental leagues influence on global top-level football, especially Europe’s big five. AFC exhibited a steeper slope than CONMEBOL (Δ=0.20 [0.01, 0.62]), pointing to a clear pattern of high extra-confederation employment among African internationals. Centroids were closer between FIFA and UEFA (d = 0.61) and largest between AFC and UEFA (d=3.25).
For C3, slopes were positive for AFC (0.53 [0.046, 0.64]) and UEFA (0.46 [0.34, 0.55]). FIFA exhibited lower slope differences than UEFA (Δ=−0.25 [−0.49, −0.12]). Centroid distances were small between FIFA–UEFA (d=0.57), and larger between AFC–FIFA (d=2.47). UEFA is an expanding regional labor market, while FIFA scales less strongly, and AFC remains qualitatively different: its within-participant circulation is low overall, implying that increasing tournament size does not translate into substantial mobility within the participating-country set.
CONCLUSION:
These findings highlight the growing importance of intercontinental leagues in football and demonstrate how network-based methods can support practical, data-driven benchmarking of globalisation in the football labour market.