Speakers
Description
The comparatively high salaries of professional football players during their active athletic career should allow them to accumulate an adequate level of precautionary savings for a financially autonomous post-sport career. However, not all players succeed in accumulating sustainable financial assets. Therefore, the question arises what forms of financial precaution do professional footballers engage, and to what extent do practices of financial precaution differ between players? Financial precautionary practices of footballers are theoretical framed by socially determined assessments of the future and observations and socialization experiences within certain social structures that influence precaution-related decisions.
To analyse financial precautionary practices among professional football players, we consider a wide range of players (principle of contrasting) regarding characteristics such as sporting success, course of sports career, income and social origin. Narrative interviews were conducted with 25 German (former) professional footballers. We used qualitative content analysis to analyze precautionary practices and their underlying motivations. Furthermore, reconstructive elements were included to create different precautionary types.
The results reveal that players show different strategies of precaution, and they deal with both career-specific as well as precaution-related risks quite heterogeneously. Although the players are aware of the uncertainties and risks related to their professional football careers, it does not say much about the concrete implementation of adequate precautionary practices. Accordingly, three precautionary types that characterize three distinct patterns of precautionary saving practices are identified: “The cautious”, “The poor dogs” and “The careless”.
Our findings contribute to a better understanding of precautionary saving practices
among football players, which provide perspectives to develop preventative concepts for sustainable financial planning.
