- In April 2024, FIFPRO, the PFA, Nike, and Leeds Beckett University announced a collaboration on 'Project ACL' – an initiative dedicated to reducing ACL injuries in professional women's football
- ACL injuries can take players a minimum of nine months to recover from and are two to six times more likely to occur in women than men
- Rachel Corsie and Lucy Staniforth offer their personal experiences of returning from the injury
Aston Villa duo Rachel Corsie and Lucy Staniforth have shared their experiences and insights into returning from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
ACL injuries, which can take players a minimum of nine months to recover from, are two to six times more likely to occur in women than men. About two-thirds of ACL injuries also occur in women’s football when there is no physical contact, yet there is little understanding about how to reduce these injuries in professional women's footballers.
In April 2024, FIFPRO, the PFA, Nike, and Leeds Beckett University announced a collaboration on 'Project ACL' – an initiative dedicated to accelerating research into ACL injuries and increasing player availability.
The project partners are working proactively with clubs and players in the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) to better understand their current working environment, identify best practice and provide solutions to support the reduction of ACL injuries.
'The mental effects of ACL injuries last the longest'
It has been 12 years since Aston Villa captain Rachel Corsie’s ACL injury, but the Scotland international can still recall that time vividly. The former Glasgow City defender says that the mental effects of the injury can be the most challenging.
"When I had my ACL injury, it was 2012," recalls Corsie. "I was playing for Scotland and I was fortunate I was playing for Scotland because at the time I played amateur football – I played for Glasgow City, we were the best team in the league, we played in the Champions League – but we were only professional in the sense of how we trained, we didn't get paid. I worked full time: Monday to Friday I was at work from eight in the morning until seven at night training to be an accountant, and I trained either side of that [in football].
"I was fortunate I did it [the injury] with the national team because that meant I was covered with private medical care, to have the scans, the surgery, the rehabilitation, the physio access, and everything that comes with it. It's hugely important to both how quickly you can recover and how well you can recover.
"I say I'm lucky because it meant I did get the best treatment. I knew the rehab would be long, but I was going to do it: I was going to follow the structure that I was told to follow. For me, the physical side of it was actually easier, and the ongoing emotional and mental effects of it are the things that actually last the longest."
'It took me four years to get back to a level that was acceptable of an international player'
Corsie's Aston Villa team-mate Lucy Staniforth shared a similar journey: not only did the England international pick up an ACL injury around the same time, Staniforth was also in an environment where she was living the life of a full-time footballer without the professional infrastructure around her.
"It was a really pivotal moment in my life," recalls Staniforth. "It's quite a while ago now that I tore my ACL, 12 years ago to be exact. The first time I was playing in the FA Cup final. It was something I was really looking forward to and the night before I could barely sleep, I was filled with so much excitement. When it happened, it was like an out-of-body experience.
"It’s a difficult and strange time in the sense of I wasn't a full-time professional at that moment, even though I lived the life of a full-time professional and the access to everything that I had around the injury was amazing.
"The opportunity cost was quite considerable at the time because I was of an age where there would be potential international opportunities had I played well and the knock-on effect of missing a season, followed by pretty much another season back to back, it took me two, three, four years to get back to a level that I thought was acceptable of an international player.
"It was not necessarily at that moment in my life about sponsorships and about commercial deals and everything that follows with success; it was just even being able to have the opportunity to try and compete with the best and to be the best version of myself."
How Project ACL can make a difference
Over the next three years, Project ACL will review existing academic research related to professional women’s football, ACL injuries and existing injury reduction programmes.
As well as surveying all 12 WSL clubs to better understand their resources and access to facilities, Project ACL will also identify best practice and provide real-time tracking of the workload, travel and ‘critical zone’ appearances of WSL players through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool.
Speaking at the Project ACL launch event in London last month, FIFPRO’s Director of Policy and Strategic Relations for Women's Football Dr Alex Culvin highlighted the importance of the player voice in driving the initiative.
She said: "Currently the football industry looks at ACL injuries in women’s football in a rather singular way, whether that’s physiology or workload, and prioritises a quick fix. Project ACL focuses on the holistic environment in which ACL injury occurs and centralises the player voice.
"Overall, this is a project that responds to players rightly calling for more research. That’s why is it so important to get players in a room together today to discuss issues such as ACL injury that can affect their health, career longevity and prospects. We have reframed the questions asked around ACL injury, aligning with players and focusing on creating an industry that is shaped in their vision."