'Underload' restricting growth of women's game, says FIFPRO official

A low number of competitive women's football matches stops players from showing their ability and limits the development of the sport, said Sarah Gregorius, FIFPRO's Director of Global Policy and Strategic Relations for women's football.

A report by global players' union FIFPRO which monitored the workload among women players showed tat "underload" is one of the most pressing issues in the sport.

The report found that even at the top level of the game, women players make a relatively low number of appearances each season.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a further decrease, with players taking part in an average of 22 matches during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

"The players don't have the opportunity to develop properly, but the industry is also not going to develop properly," Gregorius told Reuters.

"Because there isn't enough opportunity for players to go out there, leave it all on the pitch and really showcase what they're capable of if they're just not given enough opportunities to do so.

"The scheduling of competitive opportunities is another major issue which can contribute to some players experiencing overload."

Former New Zealand international Gregorius believes short-term contracts make the problem worse.

"Players are actually going from contract to contract, season to season. So, every game is an opportunity to obtain and retain a professional contract," she said. "That puts a lot of pressure on them.

"What we need to discuss more in detail is actually, are players therefore cutting corners and their physiological wellbeing because everything is so short term?

"It's a smash and grab. So, maybe I don't want to rest this week because another player might come in and I lose the opportunity and there's only 22 games in