How many foreigners were there in the nsl v a league

[grazorblade]

From Andy Howe's very nice presentation

it actually looks like you had more foreigners at the start of the nsl. Note this is not overseas born, it is overseas raised. The other interesting thing about this graph is that it looks like number of foreigners is anticorrelated with the performance of the national team




This is interesting because there have been two competing narratives - that foreigners lift the standard of the league and teach our players to go to another level vs mediocre journeymen are clogging up development pathways. Saudi's drop in form after they have imported a lot of foreigners is another interesting case study. There are so many factors that go into developing a national team, but there at least seems to be some evidence that a low fraction of foreign based players is beneficial for the national team...

 

[LFC]

wouldn't you think the many grew up abroad and came here may not have got their "citizenship" over that period for eg ?
I would really question that graph when it was done and how it amassed its info and accuracy.
Re Saudi looking at WC, '18 they came 26th, '22 25th - beat eventual Champs in grp stage, lost narrowly to Mex.
Looking at their '18 to '20 stats show improvement.
Recent decline ? I think its a bit premature to call that yet.

Do we have many journymen clogging up our development pathways ?
I wouldn't think so Graz without seeing the numbers but it doesn't look like it from my observations.
I agree having some decent foreign players in the 2 main leagues is beneficial for the players around them.

 

[grazorblade]

wouldn't you think the many grew up abroad and came here may not have got their "citizenship" over that period for eg ?
I would really question that graph when it was done and how it amassed its info and accuracy.
Re Saudi looking at WC, '18 they came 26th, '22 25th - beat eventual Champs in grp stage, lost narrowly to Mex.
Looking at their '18 to '20 stats show improvement.
Recent decline ? I think its a bit premature to call that yet.

Do we have many journymen clogging up our development pathways ?
I wouldn't think so Graz without seeing the numbers but it doesn't look like it from my observations.
I agree having some decent foreign players in the 2 main leagues is beneficial for the players around them.

So foreigner wasn't defined by citizenship but whether a player came as an adult or spent time here as a kid

 

[LFC]

ah ok understand.

I was reviewing the graph and what came to mind was the changes of the type of nationalities migrating and types that football is in their roots and circumstances.
The ethnics we big numbers due to the wars, especially post WW11 as known.
As years went by that has changed the type of immigrants incl the League, NSL to AL.
So pretty obvious its changed alot from 99/00 onwards.
Now the current league can hardly afford good example imports to compliment the league and its young players.
Look at what ol man Costa does on the pitch - none can match his skill set/postionning and he can hardly run as well.
Caceras even though a local another, I don't see the young gens as pretty and with that time on the ball like these type of players.

 

[HappyGuus]

Interesting topic. Always confusing what foreign means. A few examples:

If Souttar, Kewell and Volpato all came to play A-League, are they foreigners? One has never lived in Oz but is a Socceroo. One left when young and played entirely overseas until A-League late. The last is born and raised in Oz but won't play for us.

The world game haha.

 

[LFC]

Souttar yer I really can't grasp that loop hole but it works espceially when he's damn handy and needed.
HK always an Oz despite departing in his teens and all his play abroad upon the last hurrah here.
Volpato just come into it anymore for me considering he's been playing U19/20's for Italy, he's shown where he stands football wise despite having dual passports, no offense taken of him I wish him well tbh.

 

[Monoethnic Social Club]

If you ask some people EVERY player (and 99% of the fans) in the NSL was a foreigner.

 

[petszk]

Not quite what you're asking, but here's the graph of player recruitment over the history of the A-League

This shows (per season);
Players who were on the same team as team as the previous season
Players who changed teams from the previous season (still within the A-League)
Players who came "back" to the A-League after at least 1 season away (this may be due to playing elsewhere or a long term injury)
New players: Australian ( >21 years of age)
New players: Australian youth (<= 21 years of age)
New players: Kiwis ( >21 years of age)
New players: Kiwi youth (<= 21 years of age)
New players: Foreign (ie not Australian, not Kiwi) ( >21 years of age)
New players: Foreign youth (<= 21 years of age)

ALeague Stats

 

[grazorblade]

Interesting topic. Always confusing what foreign means. A few examples:

If Souttar, Kewell and Volpato all came to play A-League, are they foreigners? One has never lived in Oz but is a Socceroo. One left when young and played entirely overseas until A-League late. The last is born and raised in Oz but won't play for us.

The world game haha.

Souttar yes, kewell and volpato would be local. If you spend any childhood here u are local by the metric

 

[huddo]

I'd like to get an understanding of the trend of the age of the foreigners coming. See how it's been tracking in the last decade.