Identification of key career indicators in Portuguese football players

Abstract

<jats:p> The aim of this study was to describe and identify the weight of some key career indicators (KCI) on the competitive level of retirement (professional vs. non-professional) of Portuguese football players. Three thousand five hundred retired Portuguese football players born between 1950 and 1989, and registered on Portuguese Football Federation were considered in this study. Descriptive analysis and a multivariable binary logistic regression model were performed to assess the relationship between the mastery stage development variables and the competitive level of retirement of football players. The results highlighted that the KCI first senior registration level, number of seasons in mastery stage, number of total games as senior player, number of total games in retirement season, and the age of the last best result achieved contribute to explain and predict the competitive level of retirement of Portuguese football players. The tendencies identified and their impact on the competitive level of retirement could be important implications on awareness and definition of management and support programs of players’ careers. </jats:p>

Career Planning in Elite Soccer: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy, Career Goals, and Athletic Identity

“…Furthermore, career planning seems to be influenced by the level of self-efficacy of players through the definition of career goals and building plans, helping to trigger the confidence of players in career self-management and decision-making. In fact, as previously pointed out by Monteiro et al (2020) , more than only the definition of goals, the achievement of goals demonstrated strong relation with the age of career retirement and also the level of retirement. However, the most important issue is not to achieve a high level of performance but to maintain such level over the career.…”

Employee-Athletes: Exploring the Elite Spanish Athletes' Perceptions of Combining Sport and Work

“…The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective perceptions of the resources and barriers that the employee-athletes have to face in their DC process. It followed the HACM (Wylleman et al, 2013 ), considered one of the most useful models in this type of research (Stambulova and Wylleman, 2019 ; Monteiro et al, 2020 ) as well as the sport career transition model (Stambulova, 2003 ). The results suggest that the employee-athletes perceive interesting resources like the facility for the combination within the private labor sector or an underlying sports identity and, on the other hand, barriers like obstacles in positions within companies not related to sport or the athletes' perceptions about the stakeholders and the aid received in relation to this issue, when it comes to confronting their DC process, constituting a broad range of phenomenological experiences.…”

“…In any event, this finding is in line with what in B-WISER ( 2018 ) has been perceived as a resource called self-regulation, which includes planning, self-evaluation, effort, and the self-efficacy. In this regard, it seems that both managers and athletes need to know how to look at the trends of career development during the mastery stage to prepare the retirement transition and their career out of sport (Monteiro et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Keeping in mind the lack of studies focused on the DC of the employee-athletes (Stambulova and Wylleman, 2019 ; Monteiro et al, 2020 ), this research attempts to deepen the understanding of the Spanish elite athletes' experiences in relation to combining work and sport. The results obtained highlight the resources and barriers these employee-athletes face during their DC, providing a more global vision for future interventions with this population.…”

“…Both models have provided a theoretical framework that scientists could follow for their research, identifying the stages of the athletic career with the transitions, the different dimensions and life spheres, and factors that facilitate or hinder coping (Torregrosa et al, 2020 ). Regarding some key factors affecting successful transitions out of competitive sport, several studies recommend that the athlete should plan their retirement, should be able to maintain a wide social network inside and outside of sport, should not exclusively develop a sports identity and perceive the transition as a process, and, lastly, should maintain a global vision on the extension of the sports career from a vital perspective lasting longer than the 10 years at the high level (Torregrosa et al, 2004 , 2015 ; Pallarés et al, 2011 ; Park et al, 2013 ; Barker et al, 2014 ; Tshube and Feltz, 2015 ; Jordana et al, 2017 ; Lupo et al, 2017 ; Carapinheira et al, 2018 ; Monteiro et al, 2020 ). Therefore, career assistance for athletes is based on a number of principles such as using a global and multilevel approach (Alfermann and Stambulova, 2007 ).…”