Practice in new climates isn’t the only reason teams are playing in distant locales.

• More and more, national soccer teams are playing exhibition games (called “friendlies”) in unusual places, often far from home.
• The practice is basically a money-maker for everyone: the agents that manage a team’s exhibition games try to maximize profit for the teams, the game broadcasters, and sponsors. They manage to make a pretty neat profit for themselves, too.
• Teams are sent to play friendly matches wherever they’ll get the biggest audience – live or on television. Brazil recently played a friendly in Derby, England that was viewed live by only 13,088 fans but broadcast to 120 different countries.

Facts & Figures

• In October, Argentina traveled to a friendly match in Japan, Chile traveled to Oman, and Brazil played Iran in Abu Dhabi.
• Since June 2007, only one of Brazil’s 18 exhibition games has been played in Brazil.
• As a result of their deal with sports rights agency Kentaro, the Brazilian soccer federation receives approximately $3 million.

Best Quote

“This is the new landscape of international football. Friendly games used to be a chance to try out new players or different formations. Nowadays they’re about making money, which means going wherever you’ll get the biggest audience.” – Tony Cottee, Football Analyst and Former Player for the England National Team