FIFPRO, Nike and others team up to study ACL injuries in women's game

MANCHESTER, England : A growing chorus of women's soccer players have called for research into anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, one of sport's most debilitating injuries and one that women are between two and six times more likely to suffer than men.

Project ACL, which was launched on Tuesday by several collaborating partners with hopes of reducing ACL injuries in the women's game, is a response to that call, said Alex Culvin of global players' union FIFPRO.

FIFPRO, the Professional Footballers' Association, Nike and Leeds Beckett University have teamed up for the three-year project which will focus on England's 12-team Women's Super League (WSL).

"The combination of ACL injury plus the higher profile of the game and the players themselves rightly calling for more research means that it's very ripe for investigation," Culvin, FIFPRO's head of strategy and research for women's football, told Reuters on a Zoom call.

"The players are invested and organisations are invested and we rightly owe it to the players to provide better conditions and understanding of their environments."

According to a UEFA study, a 23-player squad can expect to see three ACL injuries over four years.

But while numerous high-profile players have made headlines for recent ACL tears including Australia and Chelsea striker Sam Kerr, who tore hers in January, Culvin said there has not been a huge explosion of cases.

"We know that ACLs have existed for as long as women's football has existed," she said.

What has been on the rise is the professionalism in the women's game which has meant greater workloads and crowded schedules. But the research into the injury, much of which focuses on single risk factors such as the menstrual cycle, has not kept pace.

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