Foreign Players in the Greek Football League: Evidence from the 2023-24 Regular Season

Abstract

After the Bosman ruling of the European Court of Justice in 1995 and the freedom of movement of football players that followed, professional football clubs have become a modern Tower of Babel. The Greek Football League is not only not an exception but leads the relevant list of the highest percentage of expatriates in its first division. This paper uses descriptive statistics to showcase the extent of the use of foreign players in the world of football, with an emphasis on the Greek professional football league. Descriptive evidence from professional football clubs in 31 European countries shows that there is a non-linear association between the percentage of foreign players and the average age of players. There also exists a negative non-linear association between the percentage of foreign players and club-trained players. In the Greek football league, the use of foreign players improves the results as measured by the points gained during the 2023-24 season. It is found that a 10% increase in the number of foreign players results in a 14% increase in the number of points gained. Keywords: sports, football, players, expatriates, migration, Greek League, Olympic Games, sports performance