soccer player vs player

soccer player and player both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
soccer player	Yes	No	No	No
player	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, player is a hypernym of soccer player; that is, player is a word with a broader meaning than soccer player:

Other hypernyms of soccer player include athlete, jock, participant.

soccer player (noun)	player (noun)
an athlete who plays soccer	a theatrical performer
	a person who participates in or is skilled at some game
	someone who plays a music as a profession
	a person who pursues a number of different social and sexual partners simultaneously
	someone who takes part in an activity