A Study on the Career Actual State after Retirement of Female Soccer Players and Improvement Strategies

This study aims to investigate the career paths of female Soccer players in South Korea after retirement and propose ways for them to widely choose and pursue their desired careers. Additionally, it seeks to provide baseline data concerning the retirement and career development of female Soccer players. To achieve this, a phenomenological qualitative research method was applied to in-depth interviews with eight retired female Soccer players, supplemented by literature reviews and research diaries as auxiliary data. The data collected were organized and categorized into thematic areas using Moustakas' analysis method. The findings reveal that the career development status post-retirement involves unprepared retirement and difficulties in career preparation due to the cultural characteristics of sports teams. Furthermore, the career choice process involves factors affecting career decisions and challenges in career transition. The suggested improvements for the career paths of retired female Soccer players include personal-level improvements (retirement awareness, interest areas) and organizational-level improvements (opportunities for experience in non-sports fields, provision of career information) from teams, associations, and educational institutions.Key words：surfing, big data, text mining, semantic network analysis