Contemporary reflection on the educational levels of high-performance soccer players in Brazil

Visual Abstract

In Brief

Santos-Silva et al. demonstrated that, for Brazilian soccer players, pursuing higher education is still a distant reality. This is because, in relative numbers, only 2.5% of the athletes have completed elementary school, whereas 67% and 5.5% completed high school and higher education, respectively. The mean initial professionalization age is 17.5 years, indicating that soccer players take on a crucial responsibility in a very early stage of life. However, they are still immature in terms of dealing with money,contractual relations with the club, and decision-making.

Highlights

Only 5.5% of Brazilian soccer players surveyed completed higher education.

Of these 179 athletes, 67% completed high school.

The most educated were goalkeepers and defenders at 37% (66/179).

Physical education for sports is different from educating the mind in terms of brain plasticity.

ABSTRACT

Objective

As the soccer culture in Brazil is more popular than schooling, this study reflected on the formal education levels of soccer (football) players through descriptive and quantitative analyses.

Methods

We evaluated 179 national soccer players playing various positions on different teams across six seasons (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2022). Data were collected using a questionnaire comprising the following variables: age, position in the pitch, age of professionalization, and education (years of study). The data were distributed according to the pitch position.

Results

The mean age, length of professional career, and professionalization age were 23±6 years, 7±5 years, and 17±2 years, respectively. In terms of education, 121 athletes (67%) completed high school, equivalent to 11 years of study. Only 5.5% completed higher education, with defensive players (goalkeepers and defenders) being the most educated at 37% (66/179). According to 2017 figures from the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua of the Federal Government of Brazil, the schooling rate is 31.7%, wherein 46.1% of Brazilians aged 25 years or over have completed education. In this study of 179 athletes, 67% had completed high school. Thus, players outrank the Brazilian population in terms of achieving a high school education. There were marked disparities in the relative proportions of goalkeepers (85%), defensive players (68%), midfielders (63%), and forward players (64%) in terms of their education.

Conclusion

Our survey revealed that attending higher education remains a distant reality in Brazil.

Higher education policy; Soccer; Athletic performance; Athletes; Students; Self-directed learning as topic; Surveys and questionnaires; Educational measurement