Before building anything for athletes, we asked them. The partners surveyed 100 athletes, 25 in each of Poland, Türkiye, Belgium and Norway, and held 12 longer interviews, three in each country. The research report, completed in January 2026, brings their answers together. Everything else in this project stands on it.
Who took part
The athletes were a broad mix: 51% men and 49% women, with an average age of 26. About half play a team sport and half an individual one. Of the 100, 44% are still competing, 28% have retired and 28% are young athletes or on a dual career path. More than half, 59%, combine sport with study or work.
Three things we found
Plenty of mindset, not enough method. Athletes rate their confidence in teamwork at 4.6 out of 5 and in resilience at 4.4. The same athletes rate their financial planning at 2.3 and their legal knowledge at 1.9. The qualities sport builds are already there. The gap is in the practical side of running a business.
The barrier depends on the country. Asked what stops them from starting something, athletes in each country gave a different main answer: economic instability in Türkiye, time in Belgium, fear of losing money in Poland, and a lack of technical skills in Norway. A single programme written for an average European athlete would fit none of them.
The golden handcuffs. For athletes who earn well, the drop in income that comes with starting a business can feel like going backwards. The report found it most acute in Norway and Belgium, and present in Poland too.
In their own words
The interviews give the numbers a voice. A heptathlete and student in Poland put it plainly:
“What I want is practical tips. How do I actually register a company? What are the ZUS costs? How do I do marketing? I don’t want a professor who has never left the university telling me theory.”
ZUS is the Polish social insurance system, and legal and regulatory knowledge was a critical gap in all four countries.
What we did with it
The findings shaped the rest of the project. The assessment tool measures the same areas, so athletes can see where they stand before they start. For the empowerment toolkit, which is being built now, the report recommends four modules: who you are beyond your sport, low-risk ways to start, the paperwork in your country, and the money basics.
What the study can and cannot tell you
It is a small, exploratory study: 100 survey answers and 12 interviews, all self-reported, in four countries. The report says so itself and treats its findings as a starting point, not as a verdict on every athlete in Europe.
Where to start reading
The report is 29 pages. If you are short on time, start with the one-page summary at the front. For your own country, go to the survey findings, where the barriers are compared country by country. Read about the report and download it.
ENTREMIND is an Erasmus+ Sport partnership co-funded by the European Union (project 101229842).
