The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between retirement expectations, athletic stress, career barriers, and psychological crisis in elite soccer players. A survey was conducted on 200 professional soccer players registered with the Korea Professional Football Federation, and a final analysis of 170 minutes was applied. The response contents of the final collected questionnaire were computerized on the researcher''s PC and then analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program. The result is as follows. First, the retirement expectations of elite soccer players partially affected career barriers. Second, the retirement expectations were found to have an effect on psychological crisis. Third, the athletic stress of elite soccer players partially affected career barriers. Fourth, the athletic stress of elite soccer players partially affected the psychological sense of crisis. Based on the above results, it is suggested that systematic and professional education and support are required for life after retirement by empirically examining the relationship between retirement expectations and athletic stress of elite soccer players on career barriers and psychological crisis.