FA and WSL launch ACL research project to tackle women's football's most damaging injury

The Football Association and Women’s Super League have announced a joint research project into anterior cruciate ligament injuries in women’s football, partnering with Imperial College London and knee surgeon Simon Ball to examine why the injury strikes female players at a disproportionate rate.

The PhD research will be conducted by Hanna Lehtovirta at Imperial College, funded by the FA, and will combine scientific data with first-hand accounts from players and staff across the professional game. Every club in the WSL and WSL2 has been invited to participate, with data compared between players who have suffered ACL ruptures and those who have not, alongside player interviews.

The study follows a sustained run of high-profile casualties. Alexia Putellas, Sam Kerr, Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema and Leah Williamson are among the elite players to have ruptured their ACLs in recent years, with each typically facing a recovery period of at least six to nine months before returning to competitive football.

The human cost has been visible at the sport’s biggest stages. Williamson, who captained England to European Championship glory in both 2022 and 2025, missed the 2023 World Cup after rupturing her ACL just weeks before the tournament. The Lionesses reached the final in Australia without her, ultimately losing to Spain.

Putellas suffered the same injury before the 2022 World Cup yet demonstrated her resilience by winning the women’s Ballon d’Or for a third time last week, having previously claimed the award in 2021 and 2022 while at Barcelona. She left the Catalan club earlier this year to join London City Lionesses in the WSL.

Previous research has indicated that female footballers face a greater risk of ACL rupture than their male counterparts, though the precise reasons remain the subject of ongoing scientific debate. The new project aims to move that understanding forward and, ultimately, reduce the frequency of an injury that has repeatedly robbed the women’s game of its most influential players at critical moments.