The grass is greener on the other side! On club transfers in Norwegian youth football

Purpose/Rationale Norwegian youth football is caught in a tension between grassroots and elite football, and in this study, we ask how many transfers we find in Norwegian youth football, how these transfers are structured and how they come about.Design/Methodology/Approach Data of all transfers (N = 24,552) in Oslo for players aged 13–19 from 2009 to 2023. Prevalence is analyzed through frequencies/proportions. Structures are analyzed with network methods.Findings We find a high and increasing number of transfers. The number of transfers is higher in male than female football; the increase comes from male football, and transfers in female football remain stable. Male football is more centralized and clustered than female football. We also find increases in both centralization and clustering.Practical implications As such, our results suggest that youth football for boys in Norway is increasingly caught up in a complex of forces, requiring explicit values, strategies and policies to be handled.Research contribution Transfers are likely due to intricate patterns of micro, meso and macro factors: Individuals and clubs with varying motives, sport policies aiming for both inclusion and performance and trends supporting professionalization and commercialization.Originality/Value The first broad study of transfers based on high-quality quantitative data.