Women footballers around the world have been “routinely overlooked” during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey by world players’ union Fifpro has found.
Their data showed that women’s players in two-thirds of countries went without support for physical injuries during the pandemic.
Only 16 per cent of national associations offered mental health support to women’s players. Fifpro’s data was gathered from 62 unions worldwide.
In more than a quarter of the nations surveyed, women’s clubs were not included in “return to play” protocols after the widespread initial postponement of sport earlier in 2020.
Fifpro also found that a majority of clubs, leagues and federations are not communicating with players about their working lives, personal health or wellbeing as much as expected.
“The results of this survey underline the extent to which women footballers are routinely overlooked in many parts of the world,” said Fifpro’s general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann.
“Yet there are also positive steps by some stakeholders to invest in and support women’s football during the pandemic. “We need more concerted action or there is a real danger that progress towards gender equality in parts of world football will be set back years.”
