ABSTRACT
In this chapter we analyse the evolution of the presence of Latin American players in the Spanish league in the last decades. We pay special attention of how the characteristics of those players (nationality, position in the field, number of caps, as a proxy of quality, club before joining a Spanish club), the characteristics of the team and the structure of the football industry are associated with this evolution. We compare the characteristics of these players with those from Europe, including transfers and market value. Then, we examine how these players enter in the Spanish league either directly from their countries or from a European club. Finally, we consider whether playing in the Spanish league makes easier the access to the national team. From the descriptive and the econometric analyses, we show how the institutional setting has an influence on the size of the inflows of Latin American players and how the composition of these flows changes through time.
