By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England, June 1 (Reuters) – FIFA is ramping up efforts to close one of sport’s most persistent blind spots — the lack of research on female athletes — with a new global education programme designed to better equip women’s football from grassroots to elite level.
The global governing body on Monday launched its Female Health and Performance Project, an online platform offering 30 educational modules across 13 topics, aimed at everyone from young players and parents to coaches, medical staff and all 211 global member associations.
The goal is simple: give the women’s game access to science that actually reflects the athletes playing it.
“FIFA’s aim is to optimise every female footballer’s health, well-being and performance, and to improve knowledge around women and girls in football at every level of the game,” said Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s Chief Women’s Football Officer.
“Collectively, we can do so much more to better support our growing number of female players and ensure they are trained, supported and understood according to their specific needs as women.”
Even as women’s football has surged in popularity and participation, most of the research shaping training and recovery has been built on male data, FIFA pointed out.
A review of more than 5,000 sports science studies published between 2014 and 2020 found just 34% of participants were female, and only 6% of studies focused exclusively on women.
The result has been a one-size-fits-all approach that often misses the mark. Training loads, recovery strategies and performance systems have not always accounted for female physiology, potentially limiting performance and increasing injury risk.
FIFA says its new programme, developed with leading experts and including the views of players including double World Cup champion Carli Lloyd, aims to change that.
The modules cover core performance areas such as sleep, nutrition and strength work, but also tackle topics long overlooked in sport, including menstrual health, pregnancy, postpartum return and menopause.
The initiative builds on pilot programmes run before the expanded 32-team Women’s World Cup in 2023, when 10 national teams received targeted support.
FIFA is now scaling that knowledge globally through its online training centre, making it accessible to anyone in the game.
It also reflects a broader push to bring research in line with the sport’s rapid growth.
A year out from the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, FIFA said improving access to female-specific data — and encouraging more open discussion around health — will be key to increasing professionalisation in the women’s game.
Part of that effort involves breaking down long-standing taboos. By addressing topics such as menstruation, fertility and menopause head-on, FIFA hopes to create a more informed and supportive environment for players, while giving coaches the confidence to better manage athlete health.
The modules are available publicly, with content ranging from introductory basics to more advanced guidance.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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