‘Considering the reality, I am very lucky’: how professional players and staff perceive injury prevention and performance protection in women’s football

Review written by Dr Christina Le info

Key Points

  1. Injury prevention in professional women’s football requires individualized approaches incorporating multiple components, such as education, training load monitoring, and recovery resources.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

In the last few years, we have seen exponential growth in women’s football (soccer). For example, the 2023 World Cup drew in records for fan attendance and TV viewership. This increased visibility and popularity has led to further professionalisation of the game. Yet, despite this growth, we lack rigorous research about elite women’s sports. In fact, a recent systematic review examining publications from six sports medicine journals found that only 6% of studies included female-only samples (1).

This gap in evidence includes injury prevention strategies in women’s football. To date, there is limited research on how best to prevent and manage injuries in women footballers.

Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the beliefs and perceptions of players and staff regarding injury prevention and performance protection in professional women’s football.

A recent systematic review examining publications from six sports medicine journals found that only 6% of studies included female-only samples.
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This study also emphasizes the need to develop women-specific injury prevention strategies to meet the unique demands of women footballers.

METHODS

  • This was a qualitative study that involved semi-structured interviews and was guided by principles of grounded theory.
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