FIFA rolls out global initiative to boost female player health and performance

MANCHESTER, England, June 1 : FIFA is ramping up efforts to close one of sport's most persistent blind spots - the lack of research on female athletes - with a new global education programme designed to better equip women's football from grassroots to elite level.

The global governing body on Monday launched its Female Health and Performance Project, an online platform offering 30 educational modules across 13 topics, aimed at everyone from young players and parents to coaches, medical staff and all 211 global member associations.

The goal is simple: give the women's game access to science that actually reflects the athletes playing it.

"FIFA's aim is to optimise every female footballer's health, well-being and performance, and to improve knowledge around women and girls in football at every level of the game," said Sarai Bareman, FIFA's Chief Women's Football Officer.

"Collectively, we can do so much more to better support our growing number of female players and ensure they are trained, supported and understood according to their specific needs as women." 

Even as women's football has surged in popularity and participation, most of the research shaping training and recovery has been built on male data, FIFA pointed out.

A review of more than 5,000 sports science studies published between 2014 and 2020 found just 34 per cent of participants were female, and only 6 per cent of studies focused exclusively on women.

The result has been a one-size-fits-all approach that often misses the mark. Training loads, recovery strategies and performance systems have not always accounted for female physiology, potentially limiting performance and increasing injury risk.

FIFA says its new programme, developed with leading experts and