PFA's first women's pre-season camp gives out-of-contract players somewhere to belong

• England’s PFA launched its first dedicated pre-season camp for out-of-contract Women’s Super League and Women’s Super League 2 players
• Initiative follows the expansion of PFA membership after WSL2 became fully professional
• Programme combined elite training with wellbeing, career and personal development support

As pre-season returns across women’s football, social media fills with familiar images: players reporting back to clubs, reuniting with team-mates and preparing for a new campaign.

For footballers still without a club, those same images can be a reminder of uncertainty.

“Every player I spoke to mentioned that moment,” said Victoria Williams, Head of Women’s Football at the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and a former player with Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion. “They’d had positive seasons or had come back from injury, but then they started seeing players returning to clubs and that’s when their minds started racing.”

Recognising the unique challenges facing players between contracts, the PFA this summer launched its first dedicated pre-season training camp for out-of-contract Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Super League 2 (WSL2) players.

Held across the weeks commencing 15 and 22 July, the programme gave members an elite environment to continue training and make informed decisions about the next step in their careers.

The initiative reflects the changing landscape of women’s football in England, which is becoming more competitive as investment in the game grows and the English leagues become even more attractive to international talent. Following the professionalisation of the WSL2 ahead of the 2025/26 season, the PFA expanded its membership across the top two tiers, with more female members than ever now able to access the union’s support – including during the off-season. 

“The intention has always been to run a women’s camp alongside the men’s,” said Williams. “Now that WSL2 is fully professional, we’re seeing more players who genuinely want to build a career in football. If they’re out of contract, especially in WSL2, dropping into tier three isn’t always straightforward because of the differences in professional conditions.

“As the game continues to grow, the need for this type of support is only going to increase.”

More than a place to maintain fitness

The two-week programme recreated the standards of a professional club environment. Alongside daily football and gym sessions, players also had access to the PFA’s wellbeing, personal development and business school teams, ensuring they were supported both on and off the pitch.

“I think people sometimes see these camps as somewhere players go because they haven’t got a club, but it’s not like that,” said Williams. “They’re there so players can train in an elite environment while having the time and space to make the best decision for themselves.

“If we can provide a pre-season environment that matches the standards they’d experience at a club, they don’t have to rush into a move simply because they feel they’re falling behind.”

For former Nottingham Forest striker Libby Smith, the biggest difference was returning to a professional environment at a time when uncertainty can easily affect confidence and motivation.

“The facilities are top. Everything is professional. It’s all run very smoothly,” Smith said.

“It makes a massive difference. It keeps motivation high and helps you get through the sessions. Being here has kept my fitness high and allowed me to work on the individual things I wanted to improve.

“The coaches have been brilliant, asking if there's anything specific I wanted help with. It will help me hit the ground running when I join a new club.”

For many players, however, the greatest benefit was simply having somewhere to belong again.

“There is that moment in summer where they think, ‘Thank goodness I've got somewhere to get in the car and go to and be around players’,” Williams said.

“It’s exactly what we hear from the men’s camps as well. It’s a genuine feeling of, ‘I've got a purpose and somewhere to go where I feel supported and I’ve got a bit of autonomy over my future’.”

As women’s football continues to professionalise, periods between contracts can also become increasingly uncertain.

“There can be financial pressure, personal circumstances and the feeling that time is running out,” Williams said. “When teams start going back into pre-season and you still don’t know what’s next, it can be a very unsettling time. We want players to know they’re not on their own.”

Williams believes recreating the club environment is about far more than football.

“When you’re training on your own and you don’t know what the future holds, that takes a lot out of you,” she said. “If we can recreate that club environment, remind players what they’re capable of and help them walk away confident in their ability and knowing people believe in them, then that’s a huge success.”

Becoming a regular fixture

The inaugural camp has already shown encouraging signs, with players receiving multiple offers before the camp concluded. 

Feedback from participants is already helping shape plans for next summer, including the possibility of starting earlier and eventually introducing friendly matches, mirroring the long-established men’s programme.

“We want this to become a staple of the summer calendar,” said Williams. “Provided players want it, we’ll always put it on. We’ve learned a huge amount from this first year and now it’s about making next year’s camp even bigger and better.”

The players who attended the opening camp have already helped lay the foundations for that future.

“I really credit the bravery of the players who attended,” said Williams. “They didn't know what this was going to look like. There wasn’t a previous camp they could look at and there were no women who had done it before.

“The players turned up, worked incredibly hard and got so much out of it. Hopefully, next year more players will look at this and think, ‘Maybe I should register too’.”