Injury epidemiology in Australian women's professional football

Objective: To describe the injury epidemiology of the Australian women's professional football (soccer) league (A-League W) over 7 consecutive seasons.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Methods: Match-loss injury data was collected from each A-League W club (n = 8-9) for each competition round (n = 12/season) over 7 seasons (2013/14-2019/20). Data was collected by the head physiotherapist in each club based on the governing body regulations and after initial familiarisation with collection methods. Injuries were collected weekly through a standardised protocol for all clubs and were classified by setting, mechanism, severity, the type and location on the body based on club, round and season. Generalised Linear Models were used to estimate the injury incidences (injury/round/season), whilst rate ratios were reported for total injuries and within abovementioned injury classifications for the change between seasons.

Results: Injury incidence rate ranged between 0.68 (95 % CI: 0.27-1.74) and 1.17 (95 % CI: 0.59-2.34) injuries/match/round across the 7 seasons analysed. There was no significant change over time in injuries by occurrence (i.e. match, training or other), mechanism (contact or non-contact), type or region. The most common injuries were joint and ligament injuries (0.24 (95 % CI: 0.05-1.17)-0.85 (95 % CI: 0.38-1.91) injuries/round/season), ankle injuries (0.13 (95 % CI: 0.02-0.95)-0.41 (95 % CI: 0.13-1.32) injuries/round/season) and non-contact mechanisms (0.48 (95 % CI: 0.18-1.27)-1.07 (95 % CI: 0.52-2.2) injuries/round/season).

Conclusions: Injury incidence trends did not show a significant change over the seven seasons of the A-League W reported here. Key areas of concern for female players remain injuries to the ankle, thigh and knee. Whilst specific to the Australian environment, these outcomes provide further understanding of the type and rate of injury trends in female footballers.