“No this will not work out to combine with the rest of my life” : the Career Development of Female Football Elite Coaches in Sweden

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to explore the career development of Swedish female elite football coaches, how they have experienced their journey as a coach, what have been perceived as prosperities and adversities, how that has affected and been handled by the participants. Collecting the data by low-structured interviews, thus the participants got to describe their journey, in chronological order, following a couple of key questions. The participants consisted of 12 Swedish elite female women football coaches. The analyzing method used was a reflexive thematic analysis. The data analysis resulted in three main themes: Beginning - From player-to-coach transition, Continuation - Searching for sustainability and, Today - Making decisions for the future. These in turn have sub-themes that explain the participants' different experiences from their journey, for example challenges and strategies. The primary conclusion made was that sustainability among the participants was of great importance for their journeys. Implications that the study can contributed to are new knowledge for future female coaches, sports organizations and how they can work to facilitate and create a more sustainable journey, to, eventually, making the profession more attractive.