Almost One in Three Professional Footballers in São Paulo Are Free Agents

10/07/2015 - 09h54

The Portuguese expression "jogador de várzea" is used in professional football to refer to a player of low quality, or an amateur ("várzea" literally being a small dirt football pitch often found in low income neighborhoods in Brazil).

But for Anderson Portela de Araújo, being a "jogador de várzea" means survival. Without a club for the last five months, Araújo has resorted to amateur football as a means of keeping himself in the sport.

Magrão, as the forward is known, played for São Bernardo in the São Paulo state championship, where he was paid a little more than R$5000 (US$1297) a month. But after the team was eliminated, he found himself unemployed.

So, he migrated to the amateur leagues, where he plays for three teams and can receive up to R$700 (US$182) per weekend. With daily training plus matches at weekends, he hopes to find a professional team by the end of the year.

Magrão is not alone. An unprecedented survey carried out by Folha has revealed that the proportion of footballers without clubs in São Paulo stands at 31%. The survey took into account 1704 players in the Séries A-1, A-2 and A-3 in the state. In total, 523 players found themselves out of work after tournaments.

The research consulted the São Paulo Football Federation's (FPF) register of players, the clubs themselves, and two databases of player information, the Portuguese "O Gol" and the German "Transfermarkt". The survey also interviewed players themselves.

September 1, 2008. At just 18, the attacking midfielder Vitor Flora, who had started his career with Botafogo-SP, was unveiled by the English club Liverpool, five-time winner of the European Cup.

But in the subsequent years Flora became a "cigano da bola" (literally, a "football gypsy"), Brazilian slang for a player who moves from club to club. He has been a free agent since May.

"When you're playing for a small team, you have to be as good as Pelé to find another club in the second half of the year," says Flora. His most recent club was Monte Azul, which managed to escape relegation from the São Paulo Série A-2.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Avener Prado/Folhapress
	A survey carried out by Folha has revealed that the proportion of footballers without clubs in São Paulo stands at 31%