Leah Williamson, criticized ‘unsustainable’ schedule following ACL injury and issues a caution against 40-man ‘NFL’ squads.
The captain of the Lionesses, who won Euro 2022, had knee ligament damage back in April 2023. Since then, she has embarked on a protracted healing journey, missing the 2023 World Cup in the process, and she has issued a warning that unless something is done to address the demands placed on overworked athletes, the women’s game will not be able to achieve the growth it so desperately needs.
“Sorry, the tone of the room just changed, but it really does my head in,” Williamson said to The Telegraph. We weren’t designed for this. These days, by October, girls are complaining, “I’m tired,” since you’re still carrying a lot of the previous season’s stuff. In the end, I believe that the current state of women’s football prevents you from having players to watch, so you won’t be able to raise ticket prices or draw larger audiences to the stadiums. We are running ourselves into the ground with it, therefore we need to figure out a schedule-wise answer quickly; otherwise, it won’t work.
At the 2023 World Cup, Williamson was one of 37 players recovering from an ACL injury; Chelsea forward Sam Kerr is one of those who has had the same issue ever since. “I don’t want football to get to a point in 10 years’ time where actually it’s a squad of 40 players and it’s bit like NFL [which allows unlimited substitutions], or you have a first-half team and a second-half team, because we’re having to rotate because no player can sustain that all year round,” Williamson continued when discussing the urgency for authorities to take action. When we create the schedule, everything is done incorrectly.
Even after attending a few of these meetings and hearing the procedure, I’m still baffled as to why, in the event of a negative event, people don’t take it as seriously. It’s clear-cut: while it’s not the sole reason behind all of these ailments, it is unquestionably one of the primary ones.
It should always be “rest first” when it comes to scheduling, according to FIFA, UEFA, and all the other major players. “As a professional athlete, you have to have four weeks off at the end of the season and six weeks off before the season, to be at no detriment to your health,” they ought to state. This will allow athletes to compete all year long.
However, several of the females returned after the World Cup and had a five-day break. Five days following the final’s arrival. Set aside some time so that a player may rest and not be touched by either their club or his country. Rather than telling them to play this, that, and that, we say, “I’ll give you two days off in between.” It’s not feasible. It cannot continue.