England & Arsenal star Leah Williamson warns of potential strike action over player welfare concerns

Williamson is back in the England squad this week for the first time since guiding her nation to glory at the 2025 European Championships back in July. The defender has been sidelined with a knee injury that required surgery, having sustained the issue during that tournament, and has only started three games all season for Arsenal as a result.

She's not the only Lionesses star to have spent significant time out of action since the Euros, either. All of Alex Greenwood, Hannah Hampton, Lauren Hemp, Lauren James, Chloe Kelly, Michelle Agyemang, Niamh Charles and Ella Toone have missed at least six weeks since helping England retain their European title, with Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh, Aggie Beever-Jones and Beth Mead among the others to have spent notable time out of action this season.

The schedule has been regularly brought up in the past as a potential reason for so many injuries, particularly when discussing the concerning prevalence of ACL injuries in the women's game. When Williamson suffered her own ACL tear in April 2023, one which ruled her out of captaining her country at that year's World Cup, she expressed her belief that issues with the calendar were a contributing factor. The Arsenal star was, incredibly, one of 37 players to miss the 2023 Women's World Cup because of an ACL injury.

"Nowadays we get to October and girls are saying, ‘I’m tired’, because you’re carrying so much from the previous season," she told the Telegraph, pointing to the lack of a proper off-season, during her rehab. "Ultimately, I think the way you’re taking women’s football right now, you won’t be able to increase the ticket prices or get bigger crowds in the stadiums because you won’t have players to watch. We are driving ourselves into the ground with it, so some sort of solution needs to be found soon, in terms of the schedule, otherwise it’s not sustainable.

"Everything is done the wrong way round, when we do the schedule. I’ve been in some of these meetings now and listened to the process and I still don’t understand how, when something is bad, why it’s not taken so seriously. It’s black and white – it’s not the only cause of all these injuries but it’s 100 per cent one of the main reasons.

"When they - FIFA, UEFA, all the main people - do the scheduling, it should always be, ‘Rest first’. [They should say], ‘As a professional athlete, to be able to perform all year round, you have to have four weeks off at the end of the season and six weeks pre-season, to be at no detriment to your health’. But at the end of the World Cup, some of the girls came back and had five days off. Five days, after getting to the final."

She is not the only one to raise these concerns, with former Arsenal team-mate Vivianne Miedema and England boss Sarina Wiegman among others to be particularly vocal about the topic previously.

Unsurprisingly, given that long list of injuries to England players, Williamson was asked in a press conference on Tuesday what she believes the causes are. "We'll never know for sure but I don't think people argue against the scheduling for fun," she replied. "There's reasons behind it. If you listen to the players' group, of course we want to play all the time, but the more successful you are - and this team has been very successful - then the less rest you have and the higher risk of injury there is. It's an accumulation. The players, I'm sure, would love to just turn up and play football, but we use our voice and we try to get involved in conversations with the hierarchy so that they at least have our perspective. Whether they listen to it or not, is out of our control."

Asked if players would consider more drastic action, such as striking, Williamson said: "I've not had any conversations about this right now, but if a group of people don't feel like they're getting listened to, then history suggests that's the only way they can be heard. I would never take it off the table. I don't think that's where we are now. I think we're still in a place where we can collaborate, listen and educate."

England will take on Ukraine and Iceland next week in their first two qualifiers for the 2027 Women's World Cup. Because of those recent injuries, Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman will need to be mindful of the game time of some players, including Williamson, as they continue to build back up towards full fitness. There are also still some key absentees, including Toone, Mead, Charles and Agyemang.

However, the reigning European champions should have more than enough to get their qualifying campaign off to a strong start, and doing so will be necessary if they are to top a group that also features Spain and claim the only automatic qualification berth available for the tournament in Brazil.