Opinion by Pablo Barrera

How can Guatemalan players be exported abroad? In this article, we'll explore some options for exporting players to more competitive leagues.

The following are just ideas or proposals for exporting Guatemalan players abroad. This is solely a process derived from observation and, therefore, theorizing based on what has already happened and what might or might not work. We ask for calm and moderation in your opinions so that we can draw positive conclusions from these ideas and proposals.

For this scenario, we'll take practical examples that have occurred in the Guatemalan national league and propose them with some improvements. Therefore, we begin this proposal with these ideas:

The first step would be to sign foreign players from their own leagues, for example, South American leagues, or players with Guatemalan roots but born in the United States or Europe. An example of this is what happened in the Colombian League with the case of John Córdoba.

So, the idea would be to sign players from the most humble teams in those leagues, whether their contracts have just expired or they are free agents. Then, the next step would be to keep them for one season with the Guatemalan team, and subsequently loan them to another mid-table team or one of the top 6 or 7 teams in the league where they were recruited. In Córdoba's case, he would be loaned to Atlético Bucaramanga, where he would make history by becoming champion.

Although, due to certain obvious situations, it's first necessary to offer them a 6 to 7-year contract and explain the plan to improve their career, thus including a minimum contract release clause of €250,000 euros. This is considering that the player would be on the squad for several years, and year after year they would be loaned to various leagues to increase the purchase value of their transfer fee or card.

Then, having reached an agreement with the team from the country of origin—for example, in this case, Colombia—the deal can be closed with the condition that a Guatemalan player, the most talented available in the squad at that moment, is also loaned out.

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Such a player, being in a league with a higher ranking and greater financial purchasing power, would naturally tend to increase their market value, let's say €1.2 million euros, as was the case with Córdoba.

After this increase in the player's transfer fee, a deal can be negotiated with the team to which they were loaned to sell their card, or, with that showcase and after having had such a positive experience in Colombia, an attempt can be made to loan them to another team in Europe. For example, it could be a newly promoted team to the major European leagues, such as Como in Italy.

It's also possible to try and loan the player to a MLS or Liga MX club, or to a mid-table team in the Argentine league, or a newly promoted team in the Brasileirão in Brazil. This is because these leagues are better positioned in the global league ranking, and players acquire greater value in their transfer fee after being part of such teams.

Finally, with experience in several leagues and continents, players could try to position themselves with teams that can and are willing to make such a payment and purchase for that talent. This process could also be carried out for domestic players.

The option that can be discussed for this case, specifically for national players, is that these players could be loaned to South American teams, for example, to teams in leagues like Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, subsequently Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, to finally end up in mid-table teams in Argentina or Brazil. 

This is similar to what happened to player Gerardo Gordillo, who has been a defender and even captain of the Guatemalan national team and whose market value reached €500,000 euros when he was with a second-division team in Brazil, with whom he was promoted to the top flight of that South American country.

After that, these players could be loaned to MLS teams, Liga MX, or other European leagues such as Belgium, Portugal, or the Dutch League, to mid-table or lower-ranked teams.

Let's also consider loaning these players to leagues in countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, also Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and other similar leagues such as Slovenia and Slovakia. And then be able to make the jump to other more competitive leagues such as Turkey, Scotland, Austria, Portugal, Holland, and Belgium, among others.

For young star players, between 18 and 20 years of age, a direct loan to MLS teams could be attempted. This is the case of Herediano FC from Costa Rica, which has loaned one of its rising young star players, whose market value after this loan has already exceeded one million dollars.

Consider players like Claudio de Oliveira, who could be loaned to MLS clubs. With the talent already shown after becoming champion with Xelajú MC in the Apertura 2024 tournament, and his potential—in fact, this player was already sought after by Botafogo, a top-tier Brazilian football club, for their special U-20 divisions—he could have similar potential to the case of the Herediano FC player from Costa Rica.

Finally, with this type of player and after passing through MLS—if, in any case, the Major League Soccer team did not want to buy him—he could make the direct jump to Europe, to one of the leagues such as the Dutch League, or the Belgian League, the Portuguese League, or even a newly promoted team to the top flight of Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, or the German Bundesliga.

So there you have it, what do you think of these ideas? Let us know your comments and keep enjoying our content.