Creating the Material: (P5)

Women’s football has been captivating audiences globally and rising popularity within the last couple of years. However, underneath the power and brilliant performance there is a silent dark injury which has been affecting the beauty of the sport. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), this injury hasn’t just affected a player physically but is an overwhelming challenging that has been altering the whole game and impacting even the highest level of players such as Leah Williamson and Michelle Agyemang but also affecting the biggest leagues such as the Women’s Super League (WSL). 

The horrific sight of a player falling to the ground and clutching their knee, you never forget their face when they know what has just happened as everyone is the stand no matter what team watches the heartbreaking scene is one of the worst sights in women’s football. For example England captain and Arsenal vice-captain ruptured her ACL weeks before the 2023 world cup this sent revelation within the sport and denied England of a crucial defender as well as this Beth Mead a Golden boot winner and winner of the Euro 2022 and 2025 ruptured her ACL which led to her missing out on a whole season and a world cup this as a result shows that these injuries not only affect the player themselves but also the wider teams and nations. 

The impact it has on leagues and the teams is extremely devastating as well; it leads to the squads being stretched thin as more players are unavailable and can ruin tactical plans as well as decreasing the level of play. For the league itself having major players having long term injuries can cause major setbacks for example it can decrease excitement for fans as well as ruining brand deals. 

The one major question surrounding this injury is why are women footballers more susceptible to the ACL injury than the men? This has been the most renown question for scientists for years and recently there has been some recent evidence that can help answer some part if this complex injury. One of the most significant pieces of evidence recently is hormonal fluctuations, recent research shows that varying levels of estrogen throughout the menstrual cycle which can impact ligament flexibility. Increased levels of hormones are known to soften the ligaments and potentially make the ACL more susceptible to injury, especially in specific phases of the cycle. This is one of the most prominent reasons between male and female athletes getting the ACL injury. Another reason is due to the angle of the hip and the knee joint due to women having wider hips it can put more stress on the knee joint this can lead to the knee collapsing during certain movements and can cause the ACL tears. 

The modern game demands extremely high levels of intensity, speed and physicality which mirrors the men’s game. Players are having to cover more ground, more high-speed sprints and getting into more tackles and risky collisions and while this increases the growth of the sport it also makes the players more vulnerable and under increased levels of stress. For example, players such as Leah Williamson have shown that her journey back to the pitch wasn’t just a personal value but also reflects the powerful resilience of women’s players trying to make football safer and more sustainable for the future generation. Due to the severity of the situation, football associations such as the FA who have funded mass amount of money for injury surveillance as well as this clubs have also funded sports scientists to create an injury prevention program which focuses on strengthening the muscle around the injury as well as creating in depth training programs and also educating the next generations on the risks associated with the menstrual cycle. All of these developments are helping the footballing world to ensure that the beautiful game can continue to thrive for women without the overwhelming fear of the horrific injury.