FORMATION OF PLAYERS IN CLUBS OF A BRAZILIAN CITY: CIRCULATION, SCHOOLING AND INCLUSION IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

This article approached formation of football players. The empirical corpus were five clubs from the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It looks into the process of players' formation, more specifically their origin, circulation, schooling and inclusion in professional football. The methodology applied was ethnographic aided by netnography. The research showed that about 50% of all players came from other cities; 22 out of 84 (total) had stopped going to school and many were already lagging behind in their studies. Fourteen players managed to sign professional contracts after leaving the junior leagues in their teams. The vast majority undergo a circulation process that hinders their possibility for reconciling sport and school.