The English Football Association and WSL Football have announced a major new research project to better understand why anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occur in women's football.
The project also aims to try and reduce the occurrence of ACL injuries in the women's game.
The study will be undertaken in collaboration with Imperial College London and sports knee surgeon Simon Ball and will be led by PhD researcher Hanna Lehtovirta.
ACL injuries are twice as likely to occur in women than men, and roughly two-thirds of ACL injuries in women's football occur without contact from another player, according to existing research. They leave players sidelined for many months and have a significant impact on players' careers at both club and international level.
Several high-profile players in the WSL have suffered ACL injuries in the last few years, including Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Michelle Agyemang -- all of whom are England internationals. Williamson and Beth both missed the 2023 World Cup due to their injuries.
Arsenal's Agyemang emerged as a star at the 2025 European Championships but has been sidelined since October 2025. One year after rupturing her ACL, she is yet to return to playing.
England and Tottenham's Ella Morris and the Netherlands' Vivianne Miedema -- who plays for Manchester City -- have both sustained ACL injuries over the last few years, too.
While previous research has identified a range of factors that may influence ACL injury risk -- including anatomical, hormonal, neuromuscular, biomechanical and environmental factors -- less is known about how these factors interact in the day-to-day realities of top-level women's football.
The WSL and the FA's study aims to go further than any research into ACL injuries in the women's game has gone before by combining scientific data with the lived experiences of players and staff.
Every club in the WSL and WSL2 will be invited to take part in the study.
The study will be split into two research phases. The first will gather information on injury history, training and match load, as well as capturing hormonal, nutritional and psychological factors via the use of player surveys.
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The data of players who have sustained ACL injuries since the 2018-19 season will be compared with those who have not -- to help identify factors that may be associated with ACL injury risk.
The second phase will consist of interviews with players and staff to explore individual perceptions on ACL injuries and to find out more about the current approach to training and injury prevention within the women's game.
"By bringing together different types of data and a diverse range of perspectives, we can build a better understanding of the factors that may contribute to ACL injury risk and generate findings that can help inform practical approaches to tackling an issue that impacts so many people in the sport," Lehtovirta said in a news release on the launch of the study.
Back in April, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and NWSL Players Association announced they have joined Project ACL, an initiative focused on reducing ACL injuries in women's football.
The player-focused study began in June and will last three years, after which the data will be studied to better understand how to reduce ACL injuries.