The world of football arguably brings together and unites people in support of their teams and countries, while inspiring young children and adolescents to dream of a professional career. Existing research in the field has sought to begin to understand what professional footballers experience on their journey through the game. However, much of this UK-based research has focused on first team players and their professional experiences, including transitions from youth team to first team and to retirement. This study, therefore, aimed to examine players during their youth academy scholarship at one English Championship club. This study focused on the transitional experiences of youth players from school to the academy and their resulting embodying of a footballer’s identity. Twelve semi-structured interviews with players aged 17–19, were conducted and then analysed by thematic analysis using figurational sociology concepts. Three different types of transition were identified. Among other reasons, early specialisation in football was a prevalent factor that partly influenced the way the players experienced their transition. The transition into the academy coincided with the transition from youth to adulthood that was arguably anything but linear as players managed the dominant sub-cultures present in the club.

可以说，足球世界汇集并团结了人们，以支持他们的球队和国家，同时激发了幼儿和青少年梦dream以求的职业生涯。该领域的现有研究试图开始理解职业足球运动员在比赛中的经历。但是，许多基于英国的研究都集中在一线队队员及其专业经验上，包括从青年队到一线队再到退休的过渡。因此，本研究的目的是在一个英国冠军俱乐部的青年学院奖学金期间检查球员。这项研究的重点是青年球员从学校到学院的过渡经历，以及由此产生的足球运动员身份的体现。十二次半结构化采访（年龄在17-19岁之间），进行研究，然后使用比喻社会学概念通过主题分析进行分析。确定了三种不同类型的过渡。除其他原因外，足球的早期专业化是一个普遍的因素，在一定程度上影响了球员体验过渡的方式。从青年到成年的过渡恰好是从青年到成年的过渡，这可以说是线性的，因为球员管理着俱乐部中存在的主要亚文化。