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Ein prekäres Spiel: Erfahrungen von Risiken und Unsicherheit unter afrikanischen Profifußballern in Deutschland

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Abstract

Dieser Artikel ist ein Beitrag, die vielfältigen Formen, Erfahrungen und Dimensionen von Prekarität unter afrikanischen Fußballmigranten im deutschen (und teilweise europäischen) Profifußball aufzuzeigen. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf den Erzählungen und Auseinandersetzungen der Spieler selbst. So möchte ich ein akteurszentriertes Bild zeichnen, das sowohl die Herausforderungen und Problematiken im professionellen Fußball für die spezifische Gruppe afrikanischer Spieler als auch mögliche Ambivalenzen innerhalb der prekären Erfahrungen aufzeigt. Auf diese Weise möchte ich auch die Frage klären, inwieweit das Theorem der Prekarität die vielschichtigen nachteiligen Bedingungen und Erlebnisse abbilden und so zur allgemeinen Debatte um Prekarität unter Hochqualifizierten und in begehrten Berufen beitragen kann. Grundlage dieser Studie sind 20 biographische und themenzentrierte Interviews, die ich mit aktiven und ehemaligen afrikanischen Profifußballern zwischen 2010 und 2016 in Deutschland und Ghana geführt habe. chungruhe@gmail.com
Ein prekäres Spiel. Erfahrungen von Risiken und Unsicherheit unter
afrikanischen Profifußballern in Deutschland
Christian Ungruhe
In: Berliner Blätter, 77, S. 94-114.
(= Sonderheft "
Ballspiele,
Transkulturalität und Gender. Ethnologische und altamerikanistische
Perspektiven", hrsg. v. J. Haß und S. Schütze)
Abstract:


 !""#
""$ #
$%""
& '
 "( $ %"
 "#)%
*
"
&+"
#($,- 
".
",-/-,-/0('
#
Keywords: 11 
(1
Ein prekäres Spiel
| Erfahrungen von Risiken und
Unsicherheit unter afrikanischen Profifußballern in
Deutschland | Christian Ungruhe
.2,-/0%$ 3
 
/
,-/0! $"  
$ 4#
,
%"'
" 5$ 6
$&/7#---8
  4  !   ,#--- 8$9  
""":--8$9#;
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"@@
  4   5   
%#
5
  # 4 '  ) 
      ("  $ "
A?
;@#; *
 @        
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#$
"  /#B @
  "    "' @
#"*=
          C
 %CDE#?,-/,!#
 " <  $   #  '
>"@'
$ @"$
  = 4%
"  " # A  '  $ 
      $   
="   $      
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  " 5"  5" 
         
! @
=#$5555!(
      ' 
5    ' '"   ;  
@8  .. H&" 7I!  ?"
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'<%"
  =#$
    $   +
9!'     2"
B@
  $ #      @ 
 $    % 2   
'%#' 
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5#"
 8  $  "'    
%"
5#$ @'
@"
 =         %
% 8#      $ 
8"=
 & C   % @    ? 
@(  
% ,-/G/:K0! C"  
5#<9
          '
L%
@ #%(' 
'$ DE#
 "    "    
@     # (  
 '     @ ' 
  8 M 8     
M
        
   !
 ""#       " 
"$ #$%"
"    &   
  '  " (   $  
% "     "#  
)%*
        "
     &+"   
  # (  $  ,-   
" .       
",-/- ,-/0('#
;""$ 6)
     (
5    B   
" @      #  
"$ "; =
5 @/#,#:#@!
#
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Prekarität und die Perspektiven afrikanischer Profispieler
$"2/FK-
L#.@ 
  ;     
)"   $   
,-/GJ$ ,-/G7!#8  
" 5! ? "    "
@!'@' %
  "  
 $  ## ,-/G ,!#     +"
 .8
"
 !# '
      
+")3 (,-/-!# ( ' 
4 
43# 
(   499
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#)
    = <     
'43 
       "   
 (   $>3! 
'   @     ' 
!"%
 +" 43  C
C3$ 3#
  $ 3     
 ( #2/FF-L
   2   *
 "      
     =" 
  * "  $      
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  $  " " $  HI
 #    "   ;
  = # 1 ,-/: 70J 
B,--N:N,!#$
"$
"  > #  ?  $  
'4'
 1 ## ,--NJ 4( ,-/,!#    " L  $
"   4 " 
 $    %  
4& <$ ',-/:J
 ,-/GJ 8O' ,-/0!#  >   
  $   " " 
#
.<'"""4
&+"  $       
3  8        
$ "4 ""
"  3 < "
 ""O8,-/0!#
 .   $   ; 
*B'
"=#.
'     5     => 
"* @!
 "   # .  (   $   
        $  
!   
  %6*5
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.J  J? 
A#
Bei Transfers und Verträgen von Beratern und Vermittlern übervorteilt
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 ?         
'=5#
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# $       5 
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2"*L #
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     5     
    * " #
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    5    
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       " '" " 
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J    "  ' 
   =' ,-/-J 1
,-//,G,!#5"' 
  "   #A
 ;        @ "
;"
6 2  $       =
 '9
5("#
$ #$ 
/FF-L;
<'2 @#'
   *  "       
5*#   4  )
"5)B
     5 "   
#D P'Q   D    E# PQ 
P Q '<    " # PRQ 4 
   $  #PRQPQ 
PRQ#E2"L5
'5
 #   "   $   *   
2     ( # D  PRQ 
*PRQD5PQ)E#PRQPQ'
$PRQPQPQ'<P"Q=
#PRQP.QPRQ(#E
5" L'(
    $  # ?'  
   5 "   .   #
45'6DPQ.
PQ        # 5 PQ  
#E('=;
 ;  J    
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"5#
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54
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"    # ;   
$ "
/K#(<5# @@
 ;*<' #
.   )   '  &  ' 
 =#     4   *J 
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'    5  '  
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B "   =  
    " 4    5'
' "#5' 
@
    6 D.    P Q 1
P@Q?4#PQ 1#E
Einsamkeit, Heimweh, mangelnde Integration
A  '      5  
    * '    "
          $  
 "# 4     <   
     # .  
&.% 
@$
"=5#
 $     " L       
  "#     ?       
L     4
4 # &"   " *  ? "
/-/
$ *L@#$"
= "*$ 
)#    $  '     
   &# DPQ  L  
 PRQ  4  PQ  PQ 7#--- 4 PQ
P*Q#E &    4   & 
"*"
&"'"#4"
"#?"2
  ) '        
*""'
5 ""#
$ "
5"#
DPQ  P Q    ,,# .   
 *PQ
PQ#  PQ $  PRQ     D 
 @  PRQ       
$E#E
;$ 5 
L " ?
 T" #  =    %
   8   @    
# DP)Q PRQ<=  
'  PQ  # PRQ    4   PQ
 PRQ 'PQ#E ""6
; (' 
"=%"
$ "=" #$"
      $     
5"  $     
@    ""    
$ "  # (     $  
"   .   5 
  ># &   )  
4B" %"
5    "  *  ('#  
'5"'$ '
%"($ #
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    5 "  &  J  
'#
DP5Q$  PRQ  # 4
D    < PQ 1 % 
E#PRQ  PQ$ PQ
PQ#8 4 @PQ
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PRQ# 8 
 P'    4  # # 5#Q
 PRQ  * PRQ# 8     #
PQ$ PRQ"P'Q#PRQ8
 P2
BQ#E
  "'     "  ; 
#" 
A          " " # $
$    " 
;# "="' 
 DPRQ    PQ P  Q  
4  %# P.Q PQ '
@"PRQ$ PQ"#E
L"5"'
 "#
      $    
"=*(#'
 $       ?  
<>"#5
      $   4 " %
""    ;   4  = "
#("=
    "        "
    $      > "  '
L 5#
8%@
?'5#$ 
''L5
          
&"',--0JO8,-/0!#
/-:
@" $ #     $' 
$& 
L)@"%5#$5
4#"
 "4#*"5
   .  5 # @4
    H* I   *    
$ "#;
; )?*<
" #  "   &  U   
  5    B "  '
4@#L"
 "      5"   #
5 B
"'   &#   
B;' "%#;
L 
  4  #     5  
 4%"#A  
   " L 5"   5    
 "=   #$ 
     B   *  
 4 ; " $ 
5'4#$
  " 5
"$ 
'"= ,-/-!#
Arbeitslosigkeit und Aufenthaltsbeschränkungen
   .    "
5""    
 "     6 
(#'
('4$
55   '
;     # @"    
 $ #
$ ('=
#,0L '5
,#2 &
"  4  # ;     5 '  
$D*"PRQP5
" 5## 5#Q 5 PRQ#
PQ8PQ
PRQ5"#E''#
DP.Q5
PQ#P.Q8P
Q &   
 5 #PRQ4   #
PRQ P4 Q         
#E
'$    B 
 L #       # . 
 )    '     4%  
 5 "# DP2  5Q  PQ "
&#E('$
D$  >PRQ"#8<
P%5##5#QPQ
#E&'#5
J(55
B#       $ '
* $ 55# ?'
  '  ;  8       
 % D  '  4PQ PRQ PQ  
*     #)      
   ;     P # # 5#Q
    #E    (     
   '      # 8 
"   5   " "   
 " @   2 6 DP)Q  PRQ
      D   P * 
$  # # 5#Q        
E#E        =
#="* 
5
*'$#.L
'"  "
$4( 5
#4 ,FL '#;   
/-G
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55
= #
  $  &     
'2989#
;  "'
 5# ,--:  $ ,#"
 L#L"
"9!<?=
5,#8
     #  5 
&   %# 
&"$"" 
(#2*&L
 5 6 & 5     <
    5#  " % $
    < # &  
('  "'    # 
4%#.
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&('#
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#;"
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5  $
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; @6'
      '  
('#
.)<5<5"
     =      
 #
 (      
      
 # =  5"    
 ?# .  $    5  $  .  
;@"'
*#DPQ   5   
 "       5    5
#PRQ.  ='PQ=%"
 #E  V"   " 4   DPRQ    
     2        
 # PRQPQ  % PQ 
PV"QDE#E($
    * #$   < 
        4  #
$5"#5B
&=
?.@'#
 " 4%   "     
;'   4  "#2  4 
    *    5
 < "   =   .
#
   '  $ 
   ?   # $     
8=
" $ '  < $ #    
43')
3  '  ,--NJ 2 ,--F!  
4' 
( #        
(   @ ?" 
 #" ('  <
 $   ('       
 5',-/:J,-/GJ
8O' ,-/0!# ;   "  5  
 "4"5''
)"8'"
  4<##,-/0!#  
  ) " '"  $  L  
2   & '  9  
5 6D2'# PRQ. "P 
 ##5#Q#E(('"9
 "%@#DPQ
<E D
E#
$ =<$  
           * 
56D1PQPQ1
/-N
  1 PRQ 1  # PRQ PQ1  PRQ 11
PQ1#P*Q1 1 1  
#E.;9 %
# "
    ; "    
#  (
8'" ' 4  & ' =6
DPWQ 1P##5#Q
#.11S 1#1 1
1#PRQP*Q11P#
#5#Q1SPRQ 1#E$ 
@"
   =    ?    
"$5!#
Rassismus und Othering
?$ 
# )    /FF- L  
   $   *     
   @   $ '
 '    5  " < ' 
'"*$A
$   O$",--0:7NJ",--F!# $ 
?$ 
A$ &8,-/:!#
 '     $    
#@
   $  # 4%  
? #
   ?      @
 "  #$ $ @ ; 
   @   ,--- L    DPQ
4 PRQ =E#DPRQ
"  PRQ   $       
#E         
#4A
         
$#
'  $       6
D     PRQ   = PQ
 PQ  D E PRQ PQ    PRQ
  #E ) $  @     $  
          " "
"6DP$Q)#" 
#E$ 6DP.QPRQ
LP"Q#E#
==+"
T#$$ 46
DP)Q "PQ$PRQP
( ##5#Q
%PQP( 
##5#QPRQ"#PRQP&Q
      * D<    
"EPRQ(DE#E
@   "%
#DPAQE$ 4DS'E#
#)$ 4$ 
   D     PQ $ PRQ
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  *   $  # D)   
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  P    # # 5#Q   
9#1
1S 1 11S 1
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     D( E D
"  $ E * ,--F 77!# $    
  *  5     
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 "    ; 
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 $  % # $  ? (   5
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 A ' "    $ # $
' ;  $
"#'
"   (    $   $ 
  " #$
"
   " #       "
? % #      
   " <       
 #
Schlussfolgerung
 $        
  ?  8 # 5  
%    '   "  "
   '  # $ 
   4  8  ? M 
$ "8?
  !
2  8"'  *    ?
,--0J?,-/,!# $''$ 
?       
     $  "'! "
 (    %# 
  $    " <      
. *!?
*$ #4
55$ 
%"%
5 " ,-/0 ,,NG!# 
$ 5  1(
$ #,GK/!#$ 
 <   "      ? 
///
A"#'"(%8
?" "=+"'
#$ T
%  ) '    ?   
%   $  J   $
   # ;     
 "$ 
 $   #  %     
@ #  %  
'" 5   <   " @ "
#5"(
    '    
=%#
     '  ( 
   $ #     $  
 8?"#)
       &   =
 '
$ =
'#$ 
        "  
"( 6 " 5
 43  @      .
"" %L 
 "    8  ?   
      .  
.     =  #    
#   
6;=
@ "      .   
$   ,-/G!# ;   
   A  $  "   
4% # <
'?8'
>#
Anmerkungen
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'" 'YY.
#
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4?#
"    (  
$#
:
2$ 1J?5$#
?"$11A! "  ;   (  
@*>#.*
$" ) $ 3
 )    81
",--F ,-/:  @ #'" 
      1 $ ' )
=#''<,-/0.
$(' <"
@= $  8 
@  $  '#.     
#.LB2?B
&$$2A$9&$!'"8'"#
7
.("#2A
 A   * $ @ "   & B  
&
*$A
    = '# (     "
$ "     ; 
$1% 
"'"#
Interviews (Datum und Region/Ort)
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$ &N#7#,-//J)
$ .,F#F#,-//J$'
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$ 2,:#//#,-/-J2
$ A,N#,#,-/-J(
$ ,G#//#,-/-J2
//:
Literatur
 $OB 8 ,-/0!6  16 B *< 
*   &1 $ $  @ 4  )   2
 #.6 1)?:NO,0N9NK#
,-/-!6$ #&BB)S(##
 $O5 $" ,--0!6 ?  
?>  ;    (# .6
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... For many African players, it is the widespread institutionalised disadvantages over their active careers that impede this transformation and challenge their life courses after career ending (see Ungruhe & Agergaard, 2020a). While many European and non-European players face problematic career courses (Roderick, 2006;Fifpro, 2016), African players are overly affected by structural constraints such as underpay and short-term contracts (Poli, 2006;Ungruhe, 2018), insecurity towards residential rights (Ungruhe & B€ udel, 2016) and limited options to embark on dual-careers to facilitate future job opportunities (Agergaard, 2016;Agergaard & Ungruhe, 2016). In light of these constraints and given the highly competitive nature of professional sports, a strong focus on active careers by continuous training and bodily labour is essential for migrant players to succeed in the game and become socially mobile (Agergaard & Sørensen, 2009). ...
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... As noted above, a player in the top clubs in Dar es Salaam secures a relatively steady and satisfying income in the local context without having to leave the country. For many, it secures an adequate lifestyle that does not require the risk of the uncertainties and possible precarity that comes with an envisaged football career in Europe (see Ungruhe, 2018). Hence, more financial means do not translate into increasing ambitions to migrate in Tanzania. ...
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By examining the postcareer trajectories and experiences of former West African professional footballers in northern Europe, we aim to contribute to a more complex perspective on the phenomenon of transnational African football migration. This chapter is based on multisited ethnographic research, as well as twenty interviews with West African footballers who played in Denmark and Sweden between the mid-1990s and 2016. In analyzing the trajectories of football “workers,” rather than celebrities, we draw on the concept of precarity to link players’ individual experiences with structural conditions in the global football industry. This approach highlights the nuances and ambivalences that desirable careers in the neoliberal age may entail. In particular, we focus on the reasons for and experiences of the occupational challenges and uncertainties that players face after their careers conclude.
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ABSTRACT For too long the movement of labour and the labour movement have been studied in splendid isolation. This volume addresses their intersection. Karl Polanyi’s intuition that history moves through a double movement of disembedding under market rule followed by re-embedding under societal control underlies the overall argument. In different, but complementary, ways the book’s 15 chapters address migration and precarious work along with diverse social movement responses beyond ‘North’ and ‘South’. An interdisciplinary and comparative approach emphasizes the complexity of historically grounded social relations. The first part of the book presents five complementary perspectives on the political economy of migration, labour and citizenship. Part two analyses labour unions’ historical relations with migrant workers and the current changes in their orientation and approaches to organisation of, with or by migrants, immigrants and new ethnic minorities. Part three discusses alternative global norms and institutional propositions by international organisations as they relate to an incipient global framework for the governance of migration. It examines states’ and regional organisations’ subscriptions to international human, labour and migrants’ rights and it discusses these powerful actors’ accountability for the actual implementation of these rights. Its four chapters explore, in detail, the standpoints of trade unions, migrant organisations and other organisations and movements of civil society vis-à-vis an emerging normative framework for the global governance of migration, and enquire into the actual possibilities of civil society impacting on the implementation of human rights claims and codes of corporate social responsibility.
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The burgeoning number of football academies in Africa are widely understood by young aspiring players and their family members as a conduit for transnational migration and a professional career in the game. However, for the vast majority of academy recruits the stark reality is involuntary immobility. While there is a growing literature on African football migration, the experiences of young players from the continent who are unable to translate their academy training into a professional career overseas has been neglected. This article addresses this lacuna by focusing on how this process is experienced and navigated by a cohort of former Ghanaian academy players. These experiences are positioned within the context of the intergenerational contract, a pervasive social norm in West Africa that places considerable expectations on young adults to reciprocate materially to their household. The analyses here are based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana totalling 12 months, conducted between January 2...
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Today's migrants are an integral part of the global precariat, this chapter argues. This involves millions of people flitting among insecure jobs without an occupational identity or secure access to social benefits. Precarians are 'denizens', rather than 'citizens', deprived of rights that citizenship normally includes. The precariat is divided into three categories, each politically 'dangerous'. Migrants slip into each of them; variously depicted as 'villains' causing the spread of precarity, 'victims' of the same process, or 'heroes' praised for their ability to survive under unsavoury conditions. There is a need for a political strategy strengthening all types of rights that the precariat lacks. The chapter concludes by proposing a Precariat Charter oriented towards the needs, insecurities, and aspirations of migrants.
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This paper refers to the context of British universities and tackles the relation between macro-organisation, the institutional practices undergoing major changes and the affective embodied experiences of academics today. Based on various fragments from daily academic life collected over a period of one year, the analysis emphasizes the new forms of precariousness, the intensification and the extensification of academic work. The author reveals how the new academic labour processes imply various forms of emotions ranging from exhaustion, stress, insomnia, anxieties to toxic shame which remain largely secret and silenced in the public discourse of the academy. By focusing on experience and pointing to some of the ≫hidden injuries≪ of academic life, the author recalls us that after making them visible the next challenge is how we might begin to resist.
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This article examines the production and transnational export of Ghanaian football labour. It does so via a cross-disciplinary approach that utilises perspectives rooted in the sociology of development (global value chains) and economic geography (global production networks). The article is underpinned by two central arguments. Firstly, it contends that the GVC framework is useful in accounting for how Ghanaian players are produced and prepared for the international market, identifying the key agents and agencies involved, mapping the geography of production and export and assessing the institutional context within which the trade operates locally, nationally and internationally. The second draws on the GPN perspective to argue that while Ghanaian football labour migration remains a process contoured by uneven asymmetries of power that favour actors, stakeholders and entities in the global North, there are currently segments of the production–export chain where power is much more diffuse and some benefits are captured in the global South. The paper draws on interview data and observations gleaned from four periods of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana between January 2008 and June 2011.
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This article presents qualitative findings which cast light on experiences of job-related geographical relocation for professional footballers and their families. Job relocation is an issue for players and partners, as labor market migration is commonplace in this profession. Although cultural expectations often lead to personal sacrifice, initial research findings indicate that many partners are deciding against relinquishing control over their own prospects and identities, and exercising influence in relation to negotiations concerning living arrangements. Professional footballers are an interesting group to examine for their work contaminates the lives of significant others. Based on interviews with 49 professional footballers, the data presented illuminate the interdependence between home and work and illustrate how decision-making processes and subsequent outcomes impact on the organization of, and living arrangements for, family members.