Migration is a part of modern sport, especially as a result of globalisation in sport, and this also applies to handball. The main aim of the master thesis is to investigate the characteristics of migration of Slovenian national team handball players in order to gain a deeper insight into the characteristics of migration flows, socialisation into new environments, dual careers and post-sport planning of Slovenian migrant handball players. Qualitative research is conducted. The study includes 14 Slovenian male handball players who were members of the Slovenian men's national handball team in December 2021 and had the status of current or former sports migrants. The main findings of our research are that the handball players are motivated by sport, that all of them have recently worked with agents and tax advisors, and that their families and their future club/employer are involved in organising their migration. Socialisation in the new environment is generally smooth. The results also show that complete assimilation abroad is neither achieved nor planned or desired. All of them maintain regular social contact with family and friends from Slovenia. This is consistent with the fact that they do not see themselves abroad once their sporting careers are over. When analysing the interviews, we also find that handball players find it easier to balance their sporting and academic careers as long as they live in their home country. The interviewees are satisfied with their careers and consider them successful. They also realise that a sporting career can end unexpectedly and that it makes sense to think about a career after sport during the active sporting career phase. One very interesting result of our study is that although migrant handball players do think about a career after sport, most of them have no concrete plans. This finding encourages us to think about possible solutions on a systemic level to enable a dual career during or after an active sports career. The final conclusion of this study is that athletes have a high awareness of the challenges and opportunities of an active career, but there is still much room for improvement in the area of post-athletic careers. Based on these in-depth analyses, a model for the systematic support of top athletes during and after their active careers should be developed.
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