Auditing the representation of elite female players in football performance and injury research

Performance and injury research in elite football; with the date range of studies being 1997-2024

A review of existing research on performance and injury in elite football, to see how many include female players. As well as ‘share of studies’, researchers also calculated ‘share of participants’, as some studies may include more/fewer participants than others. (And, in fact, female footballers made up a smaller percentage of total participants than the share of studies which included female players).

The researchers also investigated how many studies, out of the ones which included female players, also controlled for, or assessed, player menstrual status.

A standardised audit of performance and injury research in elite football was conducted, systematically reviewing studies to quantify the inclusion of elite female players and the consideration of ovarian hormone profiles. A total of 722 studies were included.

Female-only research has increased in recent years, with 47% (n = 44) of all female-only studies published since 2022. However, male-only studies dominate, comprising 83% (n = 600) of all studies. Female-only studies accounted for 13% of all research, with women representing 7% of all participants. Only one study investigated injury characteristics and recovery in exclusively female players.

Of the 104 studies including female players, 96% did not provide sufficient information to define menstrual status. Only four studies offered enough detail to be evaluated using the tiering system by Smith etal. (2022b): 2.5 were ranked ungraded (menstrual status defined but with insufficient methodological control), 1.5 ranked bronze tier (some methodological control). No study was classified as gold tier, which indicates best practice.

Our findings show elite female footballers remain significantly underrepresented, particularly in studies examining injury characteristics and recovery, with minimal consideration of ovarian hormones. To advance the field and improve methodological quality, future research must use robust objective measures (e.g. ovulation testing or progesterone monitoring) to determine ovarian hormone profiles and ensure sex-balanced representation across all research themes to accelerate the development of the women’s game.