The National Women's Soccer League is diving into a three-year research push with England's Women's Super League to tackle one of the sport's most persistent problems: ACL injuries that strike female players at rates two to six times higher than men.
Project ACL x NWSL marks the NWSL's entry into an initiative that began in the WSL in 2024, backed by Fifpro, Nike and Leeds Beckett University. The effort rejects the idea that biology alone explains the injury gap and instead examines the full environment where players compete and train.
"Player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem," said Dr Alex Culvin, director of women's football at Fifpro. The research will look at everything from pitch quality and weight-room access to match scheduling and cleat design.
High-profile ACL injuries have haunted the sport. England's Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema and US attacker Catarina Macario all missed the 2023 World Cup due to ACL tears. More recently, Australia's Sam Kerr was sidelined for nearly 20 months following an ACL injury in January 2024, while Germany's Lena Oberdorf tore her ACL again just eight matches into her comeback after missing Euro 2025.
The injury remains one of soccer's most sobering realities. Of seven US gold medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics who had suffered ACL injuries at some point in their careers, each knows the long road back. Though modern medicine has transformed ACL injuries from career-enders into recoverable setbacks, the timeline and complications vary widely.
Biological factors do play a role. Women typically have wider hips and narrower knee bone structure, land flat-footed on jumps and carry more strength in their quads than hamstrings. Roughly 70% of ACL injuries stem from noncontact situations. Some research suggests menstrual cycle timing influences risk, though that science remains developing.
But researchers increasingly focus on correctable variables. Girls and women do resistance training less frequently than men. Studies show elevated injury rates on artificial turf and in cleats designed for male feet. The exploding match calendar has drawn scrutiny for how fixture congestion fatigues players and compromises injury prevention.
"We're looking beyond the individual and examining the conditions players compete and train in every day," said Tori Huster, deputy executive director of the NWSLPA. "That understanding requires a zoomed-out view."
Less than 10% of sports science research targets women athletes, with most studies centered on amateurs rather than professionals. Project ACL represents the first multi-league effort of its scale, potentially opening doors to standardized injury-prevention programs similar to concussion protocols in other sports.
The WSL phase already logged interviews with over 30 players and surveyed all 12 clubs about resources and prevention strategies. The NWSL will repeat that process across its 16 clubs. Players will use Fifpro's workload monitoring tool to track training intensity, travel schedules and recovery patterns.
Sarah Gregorius, the NWSL's vice-president of sporting, framed the commitment as a league priority. "Player health and performance are fundamental to the future of our league, and this is an area where we intend to lead," she said.
Author James Rodriguez: "This is the kind of structural reckoning women's soccer desperately needs, and the NWSL's buy-in signals the leagues finally understand that ACL prevention isn't a PR play, it's the business."
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