The third in-person meeting of the ECA Women’s High Performance Advisory Group took place on 4 and 5 April 2023 at the home of AS Roma in Rome, Italy.
The ECA Women’s High Performance Advisory Group, which is dedicated to exploring medical and performance topics specific to the women’s game, met in Rome last week bringing together club experts from across sports science, physiotherapy, and medical departments.
Almost 20 leading women’s clubs from around Europe sent representatives who are all working specifically with their respective women’s teams to participate in a two-day programme at the training base of AS Roma Women.
As part of a packed and informative agenda, Manchester United FC, Club Atlético de Madrid, SL Benfica and Rangers FC each presented player injury case studies and the Advisory Group also heard from leading industry expert Dr. Francesco Della Villa, Director of Isokinetic Education and Research Department at Isokinetic Medical Group, on biomechanics of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in women's football.
The Advisory Group, which plays an increasingly important role in informing decision-making, also discussed topics such as the women’s International Match Calendar (IMC) and analysed initial findings from its first research study in collaboration with St Mary’s University, London, England.
ECA’s Head of Women’s Football, Claire Bloomfield said:
“Through our Be a Changemaker strategy, we are committed to addressing the lack of research conducted on elite female athletes in football and developing evidence-based approaches to training, injury rehabilitation and female-specific issues.
“We are already making significant progress with two ECA-funded research studies and we look forward to sharing the findings in full at the inaugural ECA Women’s Football Summit on 26 and 27 June 2023.
“This is yet another great example of how clubs from across the ECA family can be competitive on the pitch and collaborative off it with the game’s best interests in mind.”