Natalie Mincher/SPP
Last year saw a dramatic uptick in ACL tears in women’s football, and that trend has continued this year as the 2023 Women’s World Cup gets closer.
In the past few weeks, England captain and defender Leah Williamson unfortunately joined the group of players who will be missing the World Cup due to an ACL injury and her Arsenal teammate Laura Wienroither went down during Monday’s Champions League semifinal with another no-contact knee injury.
Two-time Ballon D’or winner Alexia Putellas was one of the victims of last year’s worrisome ACL injury trend, tearing her ACL in July 2022 on the eve of the European Championships. This past weekend, she made her much anticipated return to the pitch post-injury for Barcelona. Putellas talked with FIFPRO this week about the importance of improving conditions for women’s footballers amidst all of the ACL injuries:
“The conclusion that I’ve drawn from this injury, from the experience that I’ve had recently, is that it’s a multi-factorial injury. I…
