The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the Center for International Sports Studies (CIES) have published the 10th issue of the periodical International Basketball Migration Report on the migration trends of world basketball.
In this edition of the report covering the 2020-21 basketball period, FIBA’s knowledge and information on international transfers has been analyzed, combined with the expertise of the CIES Sports Observatory to document international transfers of players this period.
There was a significant decrease compared to the previous period with 7 thousand 687 transfers, which took place in the 2020-21 period, with 6 thousand 254 players. The previous issue of this report only touched on the global pandemic slowly, but in this edition it is clear that COVID-19 has profoundly impacted 2020-21 on a wide variety of issues, including international transfers and shortened periods.
Two main sources were used for this report. First, FIBA’s own knowledge base of international transfers of all male and female athletes. These records include all moves completed in the middle of two national associations by players aged 18 or over, which require a letter of release from the exiting association to be issued. The second is FIBA’s knowledge base of all players registered in 16 of the most beautiful leagues in the world. To be included in the statistics, players must have played at least once during the 2020-21 period.
In this report, there are a total of 7 thousand 687 transfers recorded for the period of 2020-21, where 6 thousand 254 players, professional, amateur, female and male.
The analysis in the report focused on three points in particular. These; comparison between national players and foreigners (players with at least one nationality different from that of the country they play in), the transfer circulation of under-21 players and players, and the origin of imported players and their profiles compared to national players. In addition, analysis was made on international players for USA-based organizations (NBA, WNBA, NCAA Men, NCAA Women) and European competitions (EuroLeague, Basketball Champions League, Women’s EuroLeague and Women’s EuroCup).
Note: Since the report explains the transfer mobility of the players in economic terms, transfers from a country will be written as export (export), transfers to the country will be written as import (import). When referring to transfers from and to the country, transfers of players of all nationalities are mentioned, unless specified as domestic players.
Some of the highlights from this year’s findings are as follows:
Precious Drop in International Transfers
There was a large decrease in international transfers, the lowest since 2014-15. The 2020-21 period has been deeply affected by the pandemic. The numbers show that males (-1,166) are more affected than females (-90). It was the only increase in Oceania’s area to increase from 42 to 52. There was a significant decrease in other FIBA regions, particularly in Europe.
The United States remained the largest exporter. However, when compared to 1,861 exports in 2018-19, 1,488 transfers in 2020-21 show that fewer players transferred abroad.
There was a significant increase in the percentage of players remaining both at home and at the same club.
European Leagues
The USA remains the most represented nationality (for both men and women) in European matches. This shows that these leagues still rely on US players. The fact that US players have higher average minutes and points per game than domestic players confirms this.
But overall, domestic players’ playing time and average numbers per game were higher than in the EuroLeague in the regular period. Additionally, the percentage of national U-21 players was higher, with more opportunities emerging for younger players.
Although local players played more than last year, the women’s leagues remained the same as in previous years.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
There was a large decrease in international transfers, the lowest since 2014-15. While 7 thousand 371 players were included in the transfers in the last period, this number decreased to 6 thousand 254 in the 2020-21 period.
The average age profile for both men and women remained stable, while the frequency of international transfers remained the same.
Transfer Stability
European transfer stability remains negative (more imports than exports), and the rate of imports, which had increased in previous years, reached the lowest level since 2017-18.
Europe continued to be the largest importer, as 8 out of the 10 largest importers were European countries. Spain and France were the most proficient countries for both men and women.
On the other hand, there was an exemplary immigration stability for America this period, but at a negative stability with more exports than imports. The numbers were also the lowest since 2017-18.
In this middle, Africa, Oceania, and Asia remained stable, with imports roughly the same as exports, with relatively neutral stability.
Turkey ranked 6th among the highest exporters per country with 204 players sent abroad, and 9th among the highest importers per country with 206 transfers to the country. While the rate of domestic players sent abroad by Turkey is 3.9 percent, the rate of domestic players returning to the country is 4.4.
Basketball Arbitration Panel (BAT)
BAT was founded by FIBA in 2006 and is today officially recognized by FIBA. BAT is an independent body that serves to resolve disputes arising from contracts between players, managers, coaches and clubs in an easy, fast and cost-effective manner through arbitration.
According to the data of 2019; Turkey ranks first with 392 documents in the list of country clubs with the most documents against them. Turkey is followed by Italy with 146 documents and Greece with 132 documents, while Russia and Serbia, in fourth and fifth place, have 85 and 80 documents, respectively.
NATIONAL LEAGUES
According to the information obtained from national league comparisons; In the Turkish Basketball Wonder League (BSL), 240 matches were played with the participation of 16 clubs in the last period. The Argentine League, which ranks first in the list, and the Japanese League, which ranks second, were organized with the participation of 20 clubs, while the Spanish and Chinese leagues were organized with the participation of 18 clubs. In the previous period, 574 matches were played in the Japanese League, 504 matches were played in China and 387 matches were played in Argentina.
Japan is the country with the highest average age of 28.3, while Greece ranks second with 27.1, VTB United League ranks third with 26.9, and Turkey ranks 9th with an average age of 26.4.
In terms of the number of foreign players playing in the leagues, Spain ranked first with 70.2 percent, Germany ranked second with 56.9 percent, France ranked third with 54.2 percent, and Turkey ranked 7th with an average of 45.7 percent. Israel took the first place with an average of 24.8 minutes, while Turkey took the second place with an average of 24.5 minutes, and Brazil took the third place with an average of 24.1 minutes.
In the ranking of nationalities representing the leagues, in the Spanish League, in the 2020-21 period, there were 54 nationalities, while 37 nationalities were represented in France, 28 nationalities in Germany and 23 nationalities in the Turkish League.
Belgium took the first place with 27.5 percent, Argentina took the second place with 24.8 percent, Brazil took the third place with 24 percent and Turkey took the 8th place with 16.7 percent in the ranking of the athletes under the age of 21 in the teams of the clubs in the leagues.
LOCAL LEAGUES
While the local leagues section of the report examines the data of each league and its clubs, the information for Turkey is as follows:
140 matches were played in BSL in the 2020-21 period with the participation of 16 clubs. While the number of games played per club was 30, the total number of players was 276. While 46 percent of the total number of players was composed of foreign players, sportsmen from 23 different nationalities made an effort in BSL. The average age of the players in the league was 26.4, and the average length was 196.9 cm. The average number of clubs scored per match was 82.2, the average duration of the 5 players who fielded the most per game was 26.6 minutes, and the average number of players per club during the period was 17.4.
Turkish Basketball Wonder League Local and Foreign Player Comparisons
Number of Players
Of the 255 athletes in BSL, 150 were domestic players, 43 were foreign players excluding the USA, and 83 were US players.
Average Age
The average age of the domestic players in BSL was 24.8, the average age of the foreign players excluding the USA was 28.8, and the average age of the US players was 28.1.
Length Average
The average length of the domestic players in the BSL was 196.6 cm, the average length of the foreign players excluding the USA was 200.1 cm, and the average age of the US players was 195.5 cm.
Scores Per Match
In BSL clubs, the number of domestic players scored per game was 4.9, foreign players excluding the USA were 11.3, and US players were 11.9.
Time Taken Per Match
While the time allowed for domestic players in BSL clubs per game was 12.1 minutes, the time for foreign players excluding the USA was 23.1 minutes and the time for US players was 25.3 minutes.
Number of Shots Per Minute
In BSL clubs, the number of domestic players scored per minute was 0.27, while it was 0.44 for non-US players and 0.43 for US players.
In addition, in Turkey in the 2019-20 period, 83 from the USA, 6 from France, 4 from Canada, Serbia and Germany, 3 from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lithuania, 2 from Mexico and Israel, Slovenia, England, Belgium, 1 player each from Czechia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Nigeria, Cameroon, Jamaica, Egypt, Suriname and Australia took part.
At the end of the 2019-2020 period, the main countries transferring from the players playing in BSL are; America (27), Germany (10) and Russia (8).
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUES
Main Countries Represented in EuroLeague and BCL 2020-21
According to the information; In EuroLeague 2020-21, players from the European continent accounted for 64.6% of the total, 32 percent from the Americas, 0.3 percent from the Oceania continent and 3 percent from the African continent. Players from the European continent in the Basketball Champions League 2020-21 period made up 63 percent of the total, 33.7 percent from the Americas, 0.2 percent from the Oceania continent and 3.1 percent from the African continent.
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