Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.46672/zsl.6.6.4
Freedom of movement of professional football players: entry mobility of foreign citizens in the first Croatian football league after the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European union
Marko Mikulec
Tomislav Globan
orcid.org/0000-0001-5716-2113
; Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Abstract
Freedom of movement is one of the fundamental features of the European Union, also used by athletes. The purpose of this paper was to present one aspect of changes occurring in Croatian sport after the accession of Croatia to the European Union, which led to a number of legal and economic changes. One such change was that Croatian athletes were given unlimited opportunities to move and find employment in EU member states. On the other hand, Croatian sports market opened up to all EU citizens. Therefore, the main goal was to analyze the number of foreign footballers in the First Croatian Football League before and after Croatia's accession to the EU. The assumption was that the economic freedom of movement granted to EU residents was reflected in the mobility of foreign footballers in the First Croatian Football League, and that the number of foreign footballers in the League increased. For the purposes of research, the author used Transfermarkt website’s database. Analyses of the numbers of foreign footballers in the First Croatian Football League clubs from the 2011/2012 season to 2020/2021 are presented. A comparison of the representation of foreign footballers in the First Croatian Football League with national football leagues of the countries that previously joined the EU was made.
Keywords
sport; European Union; Croatian sport; football; Croatian Football League; Croatian Football Association
Hrčak ID:
269331
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2021.
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