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Brazil exported 1,005 players abroad in 2025, according to the FIFA Global Transfer Report published in January 2026. That’s almost 20 per week, an absolute world leadership. Only in the Saudi Pro League, the first division of Saudi Arabia, there were 29 Brazilians in action in the 2024/25 season, more than any other foreign nationality. Adding the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the number exceeds 40. But the question that no one answers is straightforward: how much money did these players generate for the clubs that trained them, and where did that money go?
The well-known names are few. Neymar, Firmino, Fabinho, and Malcom made headlines when they traded Europe for the Middle East. But most Brazilians in Saudi Arabia are not stars: they are players from the second and third divisions of Saudi Arabia, with market values between 200,000 and 4 million euros according to Transfermarkt, coming from Brazilian Serie B, Serie C, or secondary leagues in Portugal. These are names that do not appear on Sportscenter but support the silent machinery of the largest player-exporting market on the planet.
The most revealing data from the FIFA report is that more than 60% of all international transfers involve players without contracts, meaning they leave for free. When a Brazilian player leaves the club at the end of the contract and signs with a Saudi team, the training club receives nothing for the transfer. The player earns salary at the destination, the agent earns a commission, and the club that invested years in training gets zero.
Why does Brazil export more and earn less than everyone?
In 2024, transfers of Brazilian players amounted to US$ 591 million, according to the previous FIFA report.
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He started with a jigsaw, his father’s screwdriver, and many drawings made during classes; years later, the young man who built a roller coaster in his own backyard went viral on the internet, was hired by Cacau Park, and now coordinates Brazilian and foreign professionals in the installation of an attraction weighing 737 tons, 55 meters high, one kilometer long, featuring moments of zero gravity and a speed of 120 km/h, in a journey that turned curiosity, calculations, and persistence into a professional career.
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Between Egypt and Sudan, Bir Tawil is no man’s land that neither country wants on paper, but in practice has gold mining, nomadic tribes, and even fake “kings.”
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Swimming champion Shavarsh Karapetyan dove about 40 times into a frozen lake in Armenia to rescue a sunken bus, saved 20 lives, and lost his career because of it.
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Júlia Pimentel, an 11-year-old from Minas Gerais, independently invented a new formula to calculate the square root using simple addition and multiplication, and her method was published in one of the most important mathematical scientific journals in Brazil.
In the same year, a single European transfer, such as Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool, was reported at around US$ 150 million.
In other words, a German player was worth the equivalent of more than 25% of all Brazilians transferred in the entire year.
The problem is structural. Brazilian clubs often cannot renew contracts for young players before they reach the free exit window.
The pressure for higher salaries, the lack of financial planning, and the actions of intermediaries who profit from the movement create a cycle where talent leaves, money is diluted among agents and commissions, and the training club is left with crumbs or nothing.
Saudi Arabia, which will host the 2034 World Cup, has intensified investments since 2023 with the Saudi sovereign fund PIF project.
But the flow of Brazilians to the Middle East did not start now: since 2018, Saudi clubs have been signing players from Brazil to fill squads off the media radar.
The difference is that, with the market’s growth, the volume has increased without transparency keeping pace.
While the English Premier League recorded revenue of $1.77 billion in outgoing transfers in 2025, Brazil, which exported more players in absolute numbers, fell far behind in revenue.
The country develops talent, but does not capture the value.
Brazil is the largest factory of players in the world, but sells them for a song and often for free.
Comment below: should Brazilian clubs better protect their players or is the system completely broken?
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