New research into soaring rates of knee injuries in women's football

A new initiative in the UK has partnered up with the Women’s Super League to study the causes of female knee injuries.

"Project ACL" is a three-year research project to look into female footballers' susceptibility to rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

A ruptured ACL could leave players out for 10-12 months and could require some players to have surgery and lengthy rehabilitation before they return to playing.

Female players were two to six times more likely than men to sustain an ACL injury and there were around 150 football related ACL injuries in New Zealand in 2022, costing the ACC scheme $5 million.

The research was being funded by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), Fifpro, Nike and Leeds Beckett University and would provide an in depth look at the 12 clubs in the Women’s Super League, the UK’s premier women’s football competition.

Senior sports journalist Zoe George told Breakfast this morning that the number of ACL injuries in Aotearoa has been increasing in recent years.

"It’s pretty bad, it's season-ending, campaign-ending and potentially contract-ending," George said.

"This season, we had several athletes out of the Wellington Phoenix team. The recovery time is 10-12 months so they can miss the whole season, they don't get game time so their contracts are at risk," she said.

Phoenix midfielder Grace Wisnewski’s A-League season was cut short in November while Football Fern Ria Percival has also battled a knee injury in recent years.

"In 10 years to 2019, the New Zealand ACL registry found a 120% increase in ACL injuries, particularly for young girls and women aged 15 to 19 years old," said George.

Twenty-fvie players missed out on last year's FIFA Women’s World Cup as a result of injured ACLs, including some of the world’s best. Former Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas had limited playing time and England captain Leah Williamson was ruled out of the tournament entirely.

Australian striker Sam Kerr also picked up the injury in January of this year and wouldn’t be available for the Olympics in July.