Exploring athletic identity, psychological flourishing, and financial and vocational confidence in Australian women footballers transitioning from professional sport

Transition from elite sport is a significant event in an athlete's life. However, the mode of transition (retirement or delisted through loss of contract) can influence the experience and affect psychological wellbeing moving forward. This study explored professional female Australian rules football players (n = 130; mean age 26.6 ± 5.7 years) leaving the Australian Football League Women's (AFLW) competition between 2020 and 2024. Using scaled-response questions, self-reported responses were compared between voluntarily retired and delisted AFLW players across areas of their transition experience including leaving their club, athlete self-identity, the influence of sport in their daily life, psychological flourishing, financial confidence, and future vocational preparations. Delisted players (n = 87), compared to voluntarily retired players (n = 43), reported similar career spans (p = 0.108) but played less competitive matches than retired players (p = 0.013). Delisted players also reported a significantly worse experience of their club's handling of the process of leaving their club (p = 0.031). Delisted players reported stronger identity attachment to sport (p = 0.045), but similar responses to psychological flourishing and financial competence (all p > 0.05). A greater proportion of delisted players reported studying or looking for employment (p = 0.025). The experience of self-reported transition showed negative correlations with athletic identity (r = -0.228, p = 0.009) and positive correlations with psychological flourishing (r = 0.362, p < 0.001). The results of this exploratory study suggest that as delisted female professional AFLW players expressed lower perception of club's handling of the transition process, the role of professional AFLW club staff should look to improve the transition process in in preparation for an athlete's life outside of professional sport.