There are many myths about injuries to women playing football. Often a famous case leads to wrong perceptions. Overall, with a few exceptions, the injury rate for women is in fact somewhat lower than the rate for men.

Another difference is the type of injuries with women seemingly more vulnerable to ankle sprains, knee ligament injuries and concussions than men. A special concern is the frequency of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee, which have been found to occur up to ten times more often in women than in men playing football.

At the two previous FIFA Women's World Cups, the 2000 and 2004 Women's Olympics Football Tournaments and three youth championships in 2002, 2004 and 2006, 387 injuries occurred in 174 matches. This worked out to 2.2 injuries per match, whereas for men the rate is around 2.7. The two FIFA Women's World Cups had the lowest injury rate (1.5 injuries per match) and the youth championships the highest (2.7 injuries per match), suggesting that younger players are getting hurt more often than older players, in both the women's and the men's games.

The location of injuries is fairly similar for both men and women. As might be expected, about two-thirds of all injuries are to the leg, especially the ankle, knee and thigh. The next most common location is to the head, followed by the trunk and arm. The most frequently seen injuries are contusions, sprains or ligament ruptures and strains or muscle fibre ruptures. An ankle sprain is the single most commonly diagnosed injury.

Not surprisingly, the most dangerous part of the game seems to be tackling. An overwhelming number of injuries come from just that - tackling. Nearly 30 per cent of injuries to women due to tackling were a foul, while almost half of all match injuries to men are due to foul play. Thus, it seems that the mechanisms of injury differ substantially between male and female players.

In women, tackling injuries happen to both the tackling player (45 per cent) as well as the player in control of the ball (55 per cent). In men's football, the tackling player gets less often injured. Furthermore, female players have a much higher injury risk of sliding-in tackles and a lower risk for tackles from behind than males.

During a match, the risk of an injury is highest later in each half. The lowest injury rates are in the first 15 minutes of each half. Afterwards, injuries become more frequent. During matches when the intensity of play and commitment is high, the injury rate can be up to 6-8 times higher than in training. Whereas, again, legs are most often injured in training and matches, some types of injury differ between the setting - for instance, far more head and neck injuries happen in matches.

But injuries do not have to be accepted as fate. Prevention programmes can help to reduce the risk although these must be followed regularly, eg three or more times per week. In this sense, the important thing is not what you do but that you do it regularly.

To learn more about injuries and their prevention, check the 'Player Health' section on FIFA.com: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/medical/playerhealth.html