On 12 and 13 July, the A2B project team has gathered in Vienna to identify dual career practices in Austria and Eastern countries and to hold its second workshop on the topic of businesses.

Next to the A2B partner organisations, Olympic athletes, participants from companies and the IOC enriched the seminar by their expert knowledge.

While past study visits found that dual career practices are on a positive track in Germany and Finland, the first-day session focused on Eastern European nations conducting sound efforts to establish dual career structures. Members of the Ministry of Education, Universities and NOCs held presentations on dual career in Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia and Serbia. Lacking cooperation and commitment among stakeholders currently remain major obstacles.

At the centre of the businesses workshop on the following day was the issue of how an enabling environment could be created for athletes to successfully enter the labour market. This transition represents a major challenge for athletes as both, specialized programmes and the awareness on the added value of sportsmen are rare among businesses.

In the interest to improve the given situation, workshop participants put forward detailed recommendations which will flow into the A2B guidelines to be developed by the end of the project life cycle.

A2B would like to thank the Austrian Sports Confederation for hosting the event.