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Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues Open access
Journal Impact FactorTM (2025) 1.5 Q3
Journal Citation IndicatorTM (2025) 0.25 Q4
Received: 2025-06-14  |  Accepted: 2025-09-20  |  Published: 2025-12-30

Title

Education and career transition of athletes: A comparative analysis of former and current athletes in Slovakia


Abstract

The article deals with the issue of athlete’s career paths and the challenges associated with their transition to civilian professional life after the end of their sporting career. This is a period that is often accompanied by a loss of identity, a change in social status and the need to redefine both professional and personal goals. The aim of the research is to analyse this process, focusing on the importance of education, the development of digital skills and the use of modern technologies. The research is based on a combination of literature analysis and qualitative interviews with current and former athletes. The findings suggest that education is a key factor in a smooth adaptation to the labour market and at the same time boosts athletes' self-confidence in shaping their future career paths. Digitalisation and information and communication technologies are playing a significant role in modernising and personalising the education process, with online courses, flexible curricula and the use of artificial intelligence becoming an integral part of preparing for career transition. The analysis also confirmed the value of transferable skills such as discipline, perseverance, teamwork and stress resilience, which are universally applicable outside of sport. The article highlights the need for a comprehensive approach that links sport, education and career planning using innovative digital tools. The results not only have academic merit, but also provide practical recommendations for sport organisations, educational institutions and policy makers in building effective dual career support systems for athletes.


Keywords

dual career, education, sports management, athletes, digital skills


JEL classifications

Z20 , I20 , L89


URI

http://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/1367


DOI


Pages

175-187


Funding

Funded by the EU NextGenerationEU through the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Slovakia under the project No. 09I05-03-V02-00011.

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Varmus, Michal
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Adámik, Roman
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Šarlák, Michal
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Rádiková, Jana
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Bryndza, Radovan
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Oršula, Andrej
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
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Journal title

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues

Volume

13


Number

2


Issue date

December 2025


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 1007  |  PDF downloads: 667

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