Should I stay or should I go: the differences between elite football and basketball coaches’ backgrounds

Through analysis of coaches’ playing history and players’ post-retirement career choices in these fields in Israel, this article identifies significant different patterns in the transition from the role of player to that of a coach in basketball and football. In football the majority of coaches are former senior players, and the majority of senior players go on to become coaches, whereas in basketball the situation is the complete reverse. Explanations for these significant differences are related to the athletes’ social status in each field, the substantive and philosophical differences between the fields, and their different social norms.