ACL Injuries in Women's Football: The Professionalization Mismatch

SYNOPSIS: This Viewpoint explores the "professionalization mismatch" in women's football (soccer)-the disparity between rising demands and insufficient resources despite increasing demands on professional athletes. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury incidence has remained steady over the past 2 decades. ACL injuries are severe injuries for players, often leading to short-term deficits in performance and long-term health issues. Our attempt to conduct a systematic review on ACL injury risk reduction strategies in professional women's football revealed a significant knowledge gap, highlighting the challenges of conducting rigorous research in this context. We propose steps to address these gaps, including evaluating current practices, conducting qualitative research, adopting open science practices, and facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration injury risk reduction programs to the growing demands of professional women football players. Collaborative research can support developing and implementing tailored ACL injury risk reduction strategies to improve players' health and performance in professional women's football. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2025;55(6):1-4. Epub 21 April 2025. doi:10.2519/jospt.2025.12926.