ABSTRACT
“Dreams” and “sacrifices” commonly figure in the symbolic worlds of anonymous Brazilian migrant athletes. In mobilizing these symbols, migrant Brazilian players reveal the contexts in which contemporary sports migration movements occur. When asked to think about their career trajectories, anonymous sports migrants frame their “dreams” vis-à-vis the precarious working conditions of global football and futsal industries. In this chapter, the interaction between players’ “dreams” and “sacrifices” becomes more evident in moments of injury and pain. When injured, migrant athletes must deal with the most worrying consequence of neoliberal sports industries: precarious medical care. When migrant players get injured and face the risk of career termination, their “dreams” are threatened. They must also deal with the hegemonic views of masculinity present in contemporary sports industries.
