Female Health and Performance Project

While scientific knowledge of the women’s game continues to expand, practitioners are often required to make real-world decisions in environments where evidence is still emerging. Bridging this gap between research and practice is essential to supporting player health, performance, availability and long-term participation.

To help close the gap, the FIFA Women’s Football Development department has launched the Female Health and Performance programme – a series of e-learning modules aimed at deepening understanding of how to care for female players, particularly in relation to the health areas below.

Supporting stakeholders throughout the women’s football ecosystem – from players and grassroots volunteers, to high-performance practitioners and national team coaches.

Upon completion of this programme, you will:

✔ Gain a clear, evidence-informed understanding of female health across the lifespan

✔ Understand how female health influences performance, wellbeing, and participation in football

✔ Develop practical insight to apply this knowledge within your own environment

✔ Build the confidence to better support athletes and staff in your day-to-day practice

1. Female physiology

Explores the key anatomical, physiological, and psychological differences between males and females, and how these might influence health and performance. Covers the female life cycle and key considerations, such as ovarian hormone profiles, breast and pelvic health to optimise support for female players.

2. Reproductive years

Explores the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptive use, and common menstrual cycle irregularities alongside how these factors can influence performance, training, and recovery both on and off the pitch, supporting informed, individualised, and effective practice.

3. Menstrual health tracking

Highlights the value of menstrual health tracking for understanding player health, readiness, and wellbeing. Covers what to track, how to interpret and apply information, and how to select appropriate tools within your environment, alongside key ethical considerations and best practice for implementation.

4. Pregnancy & postpartum

Pregnancy explores key physiological and hormonal changes, potential complications, and strategies to support performance and health during this time. Postpartum focuses on recovery, return-to-play considerations, and supporting players through this transition.

5. Fertility

Covers the key concepts of fertility, including key biological processes involved in conception. Explores factors influencing fertility, and provides practical insights to support players in understanding fertility and making informed decisions about reproductive health.

6. Menopause

Explores the stages of menopause and the hormonal changes that impact symptoms, health, and performance. Provides insight into recognising key symptoms, health conditions and strategies to support players through this life stage.

7. Pelvic health

Covers pelvic anatomy and pelvic floor function, with a focus on dysfunction. Explores symptoms, performance implications, and evidence-informed strategies for prevention and management.

8. Nutrition

Performance Nutrition focuses on fuelling strategies for training, competition, and recovery, including common pitfalls and supplement considerations. Health & Wellbeing Nutrition explores key nutrients across the female life cycle, energy availability, and strategies to support positive, sustainable eating behaviours.

9. Recovery

Covers the principles of recovery and how to apply them effectively in practice. Focuses on practical strategies to support adaptation, manage load, and maintain performance even when full rest might not be possible.

10. Sleep

Explores the role of sleep in performance, health, and wellbeing. Highlights key disruptors in female athletes and provides practical strategies to improve sleep quality, timing, and consistency.

11. Strength & conditioning

Explores the physical demands of women’s football and sex-related differences that influence performance and injury risk. Focuses on developing the key physical qualities required for performance and health.

12. Screening & profiling

Covers female-specific screening and profiling approaches used to inform player care. Focuses on identifying key insights and applying them to support performance, health, and development decisions.

13. Injury & injury prevention

Explores common injury patterns in women’s football and the contributing risk factors. Covers evidence-based strategies to reduce injury risk and enhance prevention.

Disclaimer
These FIFA Female Health and Performance Education Modules are for educational and informational purposes only. They do not provide medical, clinical, nutritional, psychological, legal, or individual performance advice, and are not a substitute for consultation with appropriately qualified professionals.

The programme’s education pathway consists of four progressive levels designed to provide core female health and performance information to support a wide range of learners.

Provides learners with fundamental concepts through a broad selection of expert-curated materials

Exposes learners to deeper concepts and insights, including subjective matter expert video and audio

Connects learners to industry-leading research and best practices

Encourages learners to align their newly acquired knowledge to their own football environments

This programme has been developed through a synthesis of contemporary research, expert consensus, and applied practice. Below is a curated selection of open-access resources that support and extend the key topics:

🔗 From Growth to Greatness: A Leading Article on the Professionalisation, Health and Performance Challenges in Women’s Football

🔗The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Exercise Performance in Eumenorrheic Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

🔗 The Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Exercise Performance in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

🔗Female Health Project Snapshot

🔗The lasting impacts of relative energy deficiency in sport imposed on pregnancy health outcomes: A survey-based investigation

🔗What are the risks of contact sport during pregnancy: A survey-based investigation

🔗The breastfeeding-injury link: Are concerns warranted?

🔗Stepping into Play: A FIFA decision aid for football participation after childbirth

🔗FIFA Female Health Project - Sports Medicine – Special Edition

🔗An Overarching Conceptual Framework for Menstrual Health in Sport Research: Theory, Causality and Validation

🔗Inconsistencies in the perceived impact of the menstrual cycle on sport performance and in the prevalence of menstrual cycle symptoms: A scoping review of the literature

🔗Knowing isn’t enough: Menstrual symptoms drive perceived performance impacts in women ’s football

Kelly Lee McNulty

Kelly Lee McNulty is a postdoctoral research assistant specialising in female physiology and its impact on health and performance in sport and exercise. Her expertise spans across the female lifecycle from puberty to postmenopause. Kelly also works directly with elite athletes, teams, and organisations to improve and deliver support services for female athletes.

Dawn Scott

Dawn Scott, PhD is a highly experienced performance specialist in football, with over 25 years working across elite women’s football. Her work has consistently focused on training women as women, applying a female health lens to high-performance environments, integrating sports science, player wellbeing, and performance strategy at the highest level.

Ric Lovell

Ric Lovell, Professor of Sports Science, is focused on athlete health, performance, and injury prevention in football. Through research, education, and industry collaboration, he works to translate evidence into practice, supporting practitioners, teams, and governing bodies to better understand and support athletes.

Connie Marshall

Connie Marshall is a pharmacist and Director of Expert Content at a global health marketing and communications agency. Connie has expertise in adult learning and develops healthcare education for multiple education platforms in North America. She is a Master Coach Developer with Canada Soccer.

The course above is housed on the Learning Hub, a part of the FIFA Training Centre designed for interactive e-learning. Getting access to the Learning Hub requires signing up, which only takes a moment. Follow these quick steps in the video below.

Female Health and Performance Project

What is the challenge?

Programme overview

Who is the programme for?

What do you get?

What topics will you cover?