Resources available for footballers´ social and employment-related insertion after retirement

Abstract

Retiring from sport is often a crisis stage that requires adaptation at the occupational, financial, social and psychological levels (Cury, Ferreira, and Leite de Barros, 2008). In line with recent contributions related to the athletes’ retirement and employability, this paper aims to analyze descriptively the resources available for coping with searching for jobs after retiring from professional football. a questionnaire was developed to diagnose employability in elite athletes from a professional football club. The results suggest that in order to cope adaptively to retirement, players need to raise their awareness of the future, plan their retirement, save money and educate themselves; furthermore, the human capital accumulated, perceived social support and skills, strategies and capabilities acquired after participating in sport must be strengthened.