Beth Mead to spearhead FIFA task force aiming tackle plague of knee injuries

Beth Mead is set to lead a FIFA task force which will attempt to tackle the plague of knee injuries affecting the women's game as England's Georgia Stanway admitted players risk 'burnout' unless the schedule is rectified.

Mead is one of many top players to have ruptured their anterior cruciate ligament in the last few years, with Chelsea strikers Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel sustaining the same injury in the last two months.

Research suggests fatigue and loading is one of several risk factors and the Arsenal forward is working with FIFA alongside her team-mate and partner Vivianne Miedema, who ruptured her ACL in 2022 - three weeks after Mead.

'There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes which is great,' said Mead.

'Me and Viv are going to be taking part in stuff with FIFA and a little bit more speaking to people who have done their ACLs and how they feel about it.'

She continued: ‘We brought a documentary out to bring it to light a little bit better. Off the back of that, we’ve linked up with a few more [people] so hopefully we can get a little bit more data put out there and a little bit more specific information.

‘If you’ve seen the documentary, we sat down with people who specialise in certain fields and we can talk for hours about certain things but there’s no definitive answer of how to stop it and I think that’s the frustrating part. We do feel the responsibility. There’s a lot of us that have power in a good way to try and help and push on and help with the research.

‘I do believe that the stress and mental component and the scheduling are two big, big factors that affect this injury, from what’s come from what we’ve done.’

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