Decent work in Spanish professional football: a qualitative study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v84.119879Keywords:
Decent work, occupational health, professional football, psychosocial risks, sport managementAbstract
Introduction: Spanish professional football has usually been analysed from the perspectives of performance, the market and competitive management, although its working conditions require a specific reading through the lens of decent work. This approach allows footballers to be understood as workers embedded in a professionalised, regulated sporting field shaped by organisational demands.
Objective: To analyse professional footballers’ perceptions of decent work in Spanish professional football, considering their working conditions, risks, inequalities and opportunities for professional development.
Methodology: An exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study was conducted through sixteen semi-structured interviews with professional footballers competing in Spanish men’s and women’s categories during the 2024/2025 season. The interviews were transcribed, reviewed by the participants and analysed through a thematic-categorical strategy based on seven dimensions of decent work.
Results: The results revealed an ambivalent labour reality. Professional gratification, group cohesion and physical and medical resources were identified, alongside limited participation, invisible workload, contractual uncertainty, gender pay inequality, lack of knowledge about rights, uncertain professional transition and insufficiently institutionalised mental health support.
Discussion: Shows that invisible workload, mental health, pay inequality and professional transition should be addressed as organisational dimensions of football work.
Conclusions: It is concluded that decent work offers a useful framework for guiding sport management, governance and labour protection policies in professional football.
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