International Markets: Opportunities Beyond Europe

For decades Europe felt like destiny. The Champions League set the rhythm, the Premier League set the price, and every ambitious pathway seemed to bend toward a handful of postcodes. That gravity still exists, but it no longer explains the whole map. In 2025 the smartest operators aren’t asking “How do we get to Europe?” so much as “Where does this player become the best version of themselves?” The answer is increasingly found in markets that used to be labelled peripheral—and are now building their own centers of gravity.

Asia’s second act

Asia’s rise isn’t a headline; it’s a reality. Japan and South Korea have spent a decade professionalizing the details that travel well: positional discipline, first-touch quality, tactical humility, and the mental resilience to adapt quickly. The result is plug-and-play profiles who arrive ready for intensity rather than dazzled by it. Kaoru Mitoma’s arc made the case in public, but he isn’t an outlier; Wataru Endo, Takefusa Kubo, Kim Min-jae, Lee Kang-in—different roles, same pattern. What matters to advisors is the environment behind the export: coherent academies, minutes for young players, and leagues that reward decision speed over chaos. For certain profiles, a two-year run in the J-League or K-League is not a detour; it’s a sharpening stone. And for others, Asia isn’t a waypoint at all—it’s a platform where brand, community, and consistency can compound without the European spotlight burning holes.

Across the Gulf, a different second act is unfolding. After the wave of headline names, the Saudi Pro League has started to recruit younger, development-stage players alongside established stars. Think early-to-mid-twenties profiles with resale and runway, attracted by infrastructure, guaranteed minutes, and the chance to play decisive roles. The calculus is changing: for the right player, one or two seasons as a focal point in a well-resourced set-up can accelerate growth faster than peripheral minutes in a top-five league. The caveat is fit—tactical, cultural, climatic. The upside is a new kind of visibility: not just clips, but responsibility.

North America’s inflection point

North America has shrugged off its retirement-league stereotype. MLS clubs are building and selling at pace, backed by academies that produce tactically literate athletes and by a league framework that rewards discovery. The U22 Initiative and targeted recruiting have lowered the average age of impact players, while the approach to sports science and travel management is quietly world-class. Add the cultural momentum toward the 2026 World Cup, and you have a market where a young player can collect 3,000 senior minutes, grow a global-facing brand, and still keep European options alive. The story is similar in Mexico, where the environment remains fiercely competitive and emotionally demanding—an ideal lab for players who need to learn to carry pressure, not just handle it.

For advisors and investors, the appeal is structural: stable ownership groups, modern facilities, improving coaching, and an entertainment ecosystem that understands how to package athletes. For players, the appeal is human: clear roles, consistent minutes, and a media rhythm that rewards authenticity over theatre. If Europe is the exam, North America has become the coursework that gets you there—and, increasingly, a final destination in its own right.

Case study: Right to Dream and the networked pathway

The old model was linear: academy → Europe → success or stall. The new model is networked. Few groups illustrate this better than Right to Dream, whose ecosystem stretches from Ghana to Denmark and now into MLS. The philosophy is simple but radical in football terms: educate the person while developing the player, move them through environments that fit their stage, and treat identity as an asset rather than a distraction. A Ghanaian teenager can mature in a supportive setting, step into senior minutes in Denmark where youth is trusted, and enter North America with a clear role and a full life load-out—language, support systems, a plan. Europe remains part of the journey, but no longer the only destination or the sole source of legitimacy. The lesson for advisors: pathways beat pit-stops, and networks beat badges. When development is sequenced rather than improvised, value compounds.

Reading the map like a strategist

Thinking “beyond Europe” doesn’t mean rejecting Europe. It means choosing environments with intention. Start with five questions. Where will this player get minutes that matter, not cameos that flatter? Where will their strengths be demanded weekly rather than occasionally admired? Where will the coaching language match their learning style? Where will lifestyle variables—family, culture, climate—support, not sabotage? And where does the market’s liquidity align with the player’s contract horizon so that the next move is possible on merit, not noise? If a league gives you three yeses and two workable maybes, it’s a candidate. If it gives you one yes and four hopes, it’s a trap dressed as a dream.

This is also brand strategy. Asia offers resonance in tech-savvy cultures and a fanbase that values craft. The Gulf offers responsibility and resources, with a premium on leadership optics. North America offers crossover appeal—media training by osmosis and access to adjacent industries. None of this matters without performance, but performance travels further when the market around it amplifies the right signals.

The balanced future

Europe will continue to be the sport’s loudest stage. But the smart money—and the smarter careers—are being built with a broader compass. Asia for detail, the Gulf for responsibility, North America for platform. Africa for discovery and development, with North Africa’s academies and West Africa’s talent factories supplying the world—and increasingly retaining value longer before export. The point isn’t to be contrarian; it’s to be precise. A good move is not the biggest league or the most famous badge. It’s the environment where a player’s qualities are required, refined, and recognized.

As Johan Cruyff liked to remind us, simplicity is the hard thing. Global strategy works the same way. Don’t chase every horizon; choose the one where growth becomes inevitable.