Motivational and volitional characteristics are considered important factors for athletic success but can also be connected to drop-out from elite sports (Elbe et al., 2003; Ericsson et al., 1993). This study investigates volitional and motivational factors of top-level Danish football players. Sixty five female and 42 male players (N = 107; age: M = 21.03 years, SD = 4.89) completed an online survey requesting information about sport success, career development and reasons for retirement (if applicable). In addition they filled in the short version of the Achievement Motives Scale -Sport (Elbe & Wenhold, 2005) and four scales of the Volitional Components Questionnaire-Sport (Wenhold et al., 2009).The sample was divided into elite (n = 23), near-elite (n = 65) and dropouts (n = 19) based on athletic success and reasons for retirement. A one-way between-subjects ANOVA was used to calculate differences between these three groups concerning motivational and volitional factors. The ANOVA revealed significant differences regarding the volitional scales self-determination (p < .05), avoiding effort (p < .01) and postponing training (p < .01).The elite athletes showed the most beneficial values in all three scales, whereas the dropouts showed the lowest scores. No significant differences were found regarding the other variables. The results identify volition as a crucial personality factor for elite football players, which might also be connected to dropping out of sport.