Overview of the system for attracting athletes from Brazilian football clubs

Abstract

Football is the sport most practiced by young people in Brazil, it became professional in the 1930s. With the increase in the demand for players, the process of talent identification began, with “sieves” being the main method used. Talent identification is the process responsible for the entry of athletes into the academy of the clubs, through the use of means and methods to select the athletes with the greatest potential in the long term, if well conducted, it becomes a good source of income for clubs by selling players, which is currently the second largest source of revenue among Brazilian clubs. This study focuses on the process of identifying talent of soccer players in Brazil, in the male and female category, using the deductive content analysis methodology, qualitatively analyzing the official websites of Brazilian clubs. The results showed that the age group able to be selected by the clubs is 5 to 19 years old for the male category and 13 to 17 years old for the female category, the main method used was the selection processes in both categories, being the coaches and scouts responsible for the evaluation, using mainly the technical and physical criteria for final approval. The results suggested that the talent identification processes in Brazil are susceptible to the waste of talents, through the majority use of selective processes, which are unable to provide reliable information about long-term performance.