Table 1.
Anthropometric and football-specific data of former professional football players
| Total n = 116 |
Group 1 End of career due to injury n = 73 |
Group 2 End of career due to non-medical reasons n = 43 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at end of professional career | Mean ± SD (95% CI) [y] | 32.2 ± 4.2 (31.5–33.0) | 31.8 ± 4.1 (30.8–32.7) | 33.1 ± 4.2 (31.8–34.4) |
| Duration of complete football career |
Mean ± SD (95% CI) [y] |
25.6 ± 4.5 (24.8–26.4) | 25.0 ± 4.7 (23.8–26.1) | 26.6 ± 4.0 (25.4–27.8) |
| Official matches | ||||
| 1–50 | n (%) | 16 (13.8) | 4 (5.5) | 12 (27.9) |
| 51–100 | n (%) | 4 (3.4) | 3 (4.1) | 1 (2.3) |
| 101–200 | n (%) | 21 (18.1) | 19 (26.0) | 2 (4.7) |
| 201–300 | n (%) | 27 (23.3) | 23 (31.5) | 4 (9.3) |
| > 300 | n (%) | 48 (41.4) | 24 (32.9) | 24 (55.8) |
| Favourite striking leg | ||||
| Right | n (%) | 92 (79.3) | 55 (75.3) | 37 (86.0) |
| Left | n (%) | 24 (20.7) | 18 (24.7) | 6 (14.0) |
| Position on field | ||||
| Goalkeeper | n (%) | 12 (10.3) | 5 (6.8) | 7 (16.3) |
| Defender | n (%) | 34 (29.3) | 22 (30.1) | 12 (27.9) |
| Midfielder | n (%) | 47 (40.5) | 32 (43.8) | 15 (34.9) |
| Striker | n (%) | 23 (19.8) | 14 (19.2) | 9 (20.9) |
| Body-mass-index | ||||
| During the career | Mean ± SD (95% CI) | 22.7 ± 4.5 (21.9–23.5) | 23.2 ± 3.0 (22.5–23.9) | 22.0 ± 6.2 (20.1–23.9) |
| After the career | Mean ± SD (95% CI) | 25.5 ± 1.8 (25.2–25.9)* | 25.6 ± 1.7 (25.1–26.0) | 25.5 ± 2.0 (24.8–26.1)* |
| Educational degree | ||||
| Main school | n (%) | 7 (6.0) | 3 (4.1) | 4 (9.3) |
| Middle school | n (%) | 20 (17.2) | 14 (19.2) | 6 (14.0) |
| Vocational school | n (%) | 51 (44.0) | 32 (43.8) | 19 (44.2) |
| Academic high school | n (%) | 20 (17.2) | 13 (17.8) | 7 (16.3) |
| College for further education | n (%) | 12 (10.3) | 9 (12.3) | 3 (7.0) |
| University degree | n (%) | 6 (5.2) | 2 (2.7) | 4 (9.3) |
*Significantly increased compared to duration of professional career (p ≤ 0.05)