ACL injuries in women’s football is an ever-growing problem with several players currently on the sidelines with the issue.
A three-year ACL study in England’s Women’s Super League was launched in April with other studies also in progress to determine why the injury is more prevalent in the women’s game.
Research already carried out on ACL’s suggests women’s footballers are two-six times more likely to sustain the injury than male footballers.
ACL injuries: Which high profile stars have recovered from the issue?
Multiple player’s missed the 2023 World Cup because of the injury, including England’s Beth Mead and Leah Williamson. Mead and Williamson, who both play for Arsenal, have both returned to the pitch since then.
Vivianne Miedema, who played for Arsenal at the time, sustained the injury in December 2022 during a Women’s Champions League match. She made it back to the pitch before leaving the Gunners for Manchester City this summer.
Most recently, Manchester City’s Jill Roord came back for her club after rupturing her ACL back in January.
Other players to have suffered with the injury include Alexia Putellas, Giulia Gwinn, Caroline Weir, Janine Beckie and Marie-Antoinette Katoto.
Dr Stacey Emmonds, an expert in Sports Performance at Leeds Beckett University, says that these high numbers should decline as the women’s game develops – but that risk factors which may be inherent to women can still be influenced.
“We know there is research looking at neuromuscular programmes,” Emmonds said “[This is] not being explored in female athletes. There’s a need for broad research and we feel one of the biggest things is the environmental factors in the women’s game.”
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Current ACL injury list in the WSL
There are currently 18 players recovering from an ACL injury in England’s top-flight. In FourFourTwo’s view, individual clubs should carry out research to see if they can identify any patterns around their players sustaining the injuries.
- Aurora Galli (Italy/Everton)
- Inma Gabarro (Spain/Everton)
- Kenzie Weir (Scotland/Everton)
- Sofie Lundgaard (Denmark/Liverpool)*
- Faye Kirby (England/Liverpool)*
- Sophie Ingle (Wales/Chelsea)
- Mia Fishel (USA/Chelsea)
- Sam Kerr (Australia/Chelsea)
- Jorja Fox (England/Chelsea)*
- Aniek Nouwen (Netherlands/Chelsea)
- Elise Hughes (Wales/Crystal Palace)
- Victoria Pelova (Netherlands/Arsenal)
- Sandy MacIver (Scotland/Manchester City)
- Risa Shimizu (Japan/Manchester City)
- Evie Rabjohn (England/Manchester United)*
- Kit Graham (England/Tottenham)*
- Jessica Ziu (Republic of Ireland/West Ham)
- Hannah Cain (Wales/Leicester City)
*Uncapped for senior international team
Selected names across European leagues with ACL injuries
- Lena Oberdorf (Germany/Bayern Munich)
- Senja Salo (Finland/Åland United)
- Bibiane Schulze Solano (Germany/Atletic Bilbao)
- Anaïs Ebayilin (France/PSG)*
- Marina Rivas (Spain/Madrid CFF)*
