Impacts of the end of the reserve clause on the football [soccer] players transfer market

Abstract

Brazilian football [soccer] player market has suffered a  significant  change  in  its  structure,  with the end of the reserve clause in 2001. Among the possible economic consequences of the structural change  is  the  alteration  in  the  mobility  of  the players  among  the  teams, given  by  the  volume of transfers. In accordance with the concepts of the  new  economic  system  of  the institutions, a hypothesis that the change in the property rights on  the players  has  caused  a  significant increase in  the  number  of  transfers  of  athletes  among teams was formulated. A  research with players who  had  served  the  Brazilian  Team  between 1996  and  2005  confirmed  the  hypothesis  that the  free market brought  an  expressive  increase in  the  volume  of  transfers,  thus  corroborating the economic theory.