The problem of ending a sports career in the perception of female athletes involved in elite sport is explored. Firstly, the article is based on the conceptual model of adaptation to new conditions of life outside sports, proposed by J. Taylor and B. Ogilvy. Secondly, the author refers to the concept of social space and habitus by P. Bourdieu. The problem of disintegration of female athletes from the field of sports has become relevant again as a result of three original sociological studies conducted in 2022—2023 using questionnaires and interviews with elite athletes (n1 = 400 people, n2 = 31 people), as well as expert interviews (n3 = 6 people). The object of the study is the process of ending a sports career. The subject of the study is the characteristics of the process of ending a sports career. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of the process of ending a sports career by women who are disintegrating from the social field of sports activity. As a result, the following characteristics of the process of ending a sports career in the perception of female athletes were identified: the presence/absence of a strategy for planning the stage of quitting sports; the specifics of preparing actors for the postsports stage; reasons for the unplanned end of the sports journey; features of perception of the termination of training and competitive activity; female athletes’ need for assistance; entities providing social assistance and support to female athlete completing their professional sports careers. The relevance of creating a system of social support for female athletes who are in difficult life situations at the end of their sports career is noted.
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