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Sports World
Spain continues to grow in the world’s worst export/import balance of players, only surpassed by Australia being also the country that imports the most foreign players (919) ahead of Germany and Italy and with the ACB registering an increase in foreigners, reaching 72% in its workforce.
The Spanish league tops the world ranking with 5 teams in the Top 5 of teams with the highest number of foreigners UCAM Murcia (94.1%), Andorra and Baskonia (86.7), Palencia (82.4) and Breogán (84%) dominate the top 5 positions of the ranking.
And it is that the ACB registered 72% foreigners in its league in the 2023/2024 season, increasing the figures of the previous season by 2% and almost a year in the average age of its players going from 26.9 to 27.7 years.
This is confirmed by the new International Basketball Migration Report (IBMR) 2024which reveals a historical record in international transfers in its thirteenth edition.
For the first time since the introduction of IBMR In the 2010/11 season, there were more than 13,000 international transfers with 13,149 registered movements (10,051 in men and 3,098 in women)
A global snapshot
USA remains, by far, the largest exporter with 2,050 male and female players, followed by Spain with 708 and France in third place with 630. International players represented 18% of the rosters of the NBA and 9% of those in the WNBA.
Notably, among the increases globally are more young people heading to the USA to play Division I basketball NCAA. A record 826 international players competed there (5.8 percent more than the previous season) while women’s college basketball also saw a record 828 players, up 7.1 percent from 2022-23.
Zagklis: we will continue analyzing the trend
The Secretary General of FIBA, Andreas Zagklis wanted to “express my gratitude to CIES for their continued work in this field. This important collaboration keeps us informed about the increasing number of transfers and player movements, as well as crucial data derived from league analysis. As we observe With another increase in the number of international transfers, now over 13,000 having surpassed the 11,000 mark of the last report, we will continue to monitor this trend closely, maintaining our strong focus on exploring the key issues surrounding transfers. of global players”.
The complete basketball migration report can be read at this link.
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