Former Bavarian becomes a globetrotter
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“I will have a lot of pressure here, but I like it,” said James Rodríguez during his presentation at Club León FC. The Mexican top club, with which the former Bayern Munich playmaker has initially signed until the end of the year, is the twelfth stop in the eleventh country for the 33-year-old. Rodríguez has developed into a soccer globetrotter, especially in the last four years, like Keisuke Honda or Lutz Pfannenstiel before him.
Now the Colombian international player will have chosen León because it offers him the biggest possible stage with the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer. The stations in Mexico and previously at LaLiga ninth-placed Rayo Vallecano, in Brazil, Greece and Qatar were also all well-known. However, Central and North America is now Rodríguez’s fourth continent on which he will appear after South America, Europe and Asia.
The record holder for continents is still Pfannenstiel with six. For the former goalkeeper and current sporting director of MLS club St. Louis CITY, “this existence as a globetrotter” became a rhythm “that I got used to,” as he explained in an interview with Transfermarkt in 2020. “I wasn’t chasing it, but in the end the last continent (South America; editor) was definitely a bit provoked, also because I wasn’t really convinced about doing it until the very end and didn’t realize how important it was and the impact on my life would be great.”
5 continents, 22 countries, 36 transfers: The biggest football migrants
The 98-time Japanese national player Keisuke Honda almost achieved Pfannenstiel in the autumn of his career. The 38-year-old played for CSKA Moscow and AC Milan in his prime. From Italy he then went on a world tour and made stops in Mexico, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro.
According to a query in the TM database, there weren’t many other players playing on at least five continents besides Honda and Pfannenstiel. Among them: Zeljko Kuzmic, Nicolás Abot, David Low, Alain N’Kong, Paulo Cézar, Luiz Júnior, Flávio Barros Souza and Ignacio Giampaoli, but also the Brazilian legend Romário and the former Aachen keeper André Krul. Some of them are even still active, the stories of the first three mentioned are told in detail in the picture gallery.
As in 2020, Honda’s compatriot Dan Ito holds the record by country. The former playmaker was active in 22 different countries, and some clubs were only created for Ito in the TM database. “I thought it would be an interesting career and a good experience to play in a different Asian country every year,” Ito told Transfermarkt. “It also led directly to my second career.” He began this in 2019 as coach of the Clark High School Soccer Club in his home country and part of the staff at the Japanese first division club Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo.
The Uruguayan Sebastián Abreu is likely to be virtually unassailable in the lead when it comes to transfers for years to come. “El Loco”, as the striker is called, ended his career in 2022 at the age of 45. The 2002 and 2010 World Cup participant played for 32 clubs in eleven countries and on three continents, including big names such as Deportivo La Coruna, CF América and River Plate. The goalscorer changed a total of 36 times.