ACL Injury Prevention for Girls Soccer: A 15-Minute Warm-Up Every Coach Can Run
If you coach girls soccer long enough, you'll see it: a player plants to change direction, her knee caves in, and she goes down. An ACL tear usually means surgery, nine months to a year away from the game, and a higher risk of re-injury and knee problems down the road.
The good news is that this is one of the most preventable serious injuries in youth sports. You don't need a sports scientist or a weight room. You need about 15 minutes, a few times a week, built into the practice you're already running.
Why girls are at higher risk
Research has consistently found that female soccer players tear their ACL at a higher rate than male players, with estimates often ranging from two to several times higher. The risk climbs around puberty and stays elevated through the high school and college years.
Most ACL tears in soccer are non-contact. They happen when a player:
- Lands from a header or jump with her knee collapsing inward
- Cuts or changes direction sharply with her weight over a straight, stiff leg
- Decelerates hard to stop or turn
That's actually encouraging for coaches. If the problem is largely how players move, then training how they move can lower the risk.
The research: warm-ups that work
Structured neuromuscular warm-ups (strength, balance, landing, and cutting practice done before training) are some of the best-studied injury prevention tools in all of sports medicine.
- The PEP Program, studied in female youth soccer players, was associated with a large drop in ACL injuries compared to teams that didn't use it.
- A large Swedish study of adolescent female players found that a 15-minute neuromuscular warm-up reduced ACL injuries by roughly two-thirds in teams that used it.
- The FIFA 11+ warm-up has been shown to reduce overall injuries in youth female soccer, with the biggest benefit for teams that use it consistently.
The common thread: it only works if you actually do it. Teams that run their prevention warm-up at least twice a week see the benefit. Teams that do it once in a while mostly don't.
The 15-minute ACL prevention warm-up
Run this at the start of practice, after a light jog. Coach quality over speed: a slow rep with good form is worth more than a fast, sloppy one.
1. Jog and dynamic movement (3 minutes)
Light jogging with skips, side shuffles, and carioca. The goal is to get warm and moving in different directions.
2. Single-leg balance with ball pass (2 minutes)
Players pair up. Each stands on one leg with a slight knee bend and passes a ball back and forth with her partner, 30 seconds per leg, two rounds. Coaching cue: "Knee over your toes, not falling inward."
3. Squats to calf raise (2 minutes)
2 sets of 10. Feet hip-width apart, sit back like you're reaching for a chair, then rise up onto your toes. Coaching cue: "Push your knees out. Don't let them touch."
4. Nordic hamstring curls (2 minutes)
2 sets of 3–5 reps with a partner holding the ankles. Lower forward as slowly as possible, catch yourself with your hands, and push back up. Strong hamstrings help protect the ACL by keeping the shin from sliding forward during landing and cutting. Coaching cue: "Fight the fall the whole way down."
5. Jump and stick landings (3 minutes)
2 sets of 6. Jump straight up and land softly on two feet, holding the landing for 2 seconds. Progress to single-leg hops forward and side to side, "sticking" each landing. Coaching cue: "Land quiet. Soft knees, hips back, knees over toes."
6. Cut and decelerate (3 minutes)
Players jog forward, plant at a cone, and cut 45 degrees, focusing on a controlled stop. Build up speed over 6–8 reps per side. Coaching cue: "Sink your hips, bend the knee, and push off. Don't stop on a straight leg."
Watch for this one mistake
Across every exercise, watch for knees collapsing inward (coaches call it "knock-knee" or valgus). That inward collapse is the position most closely linked to non-contact ACL tears. If you see it, slow the player down and cue "knees out."
How often and when
- At least 2–3 times per week, every week
- Start in preseason and keep it going all season. The benefit fades if you stop.
- Keep it at 15–20 minutes. Any longer and it starts competing with your soccer work, which is when teams quit doing it.
Making it stick with your team
The hardest part isn't the exercises. It's consistency. A few things that help:
- Make it the warm-up, not an add-on. Players stop seeing it as "extra" when it's simply how practice starts.
- Explain why. Older players buy in when they understand the risk. Younger players buy in when it feels like a game.
- Adjust for the week. The day before a match, keep the volume low: fewer jumps, no hard Nordic sets. Earlier in the week, you can push more.
Let PIE build it for you
Every practice is different, and the right prevention work depends on your team's age, level, and how close you are to game day. PIE Coach reads your practice plan and adds properly dosed ACL and injury-prevention work around it, matched to your team and your match schedule, so it fits your session instead of replacing it.
This article is for general education for coaches and isn't medical advice. Players with pain, a history of knee injury, or a medical condition should be evaluated by a qualified healthcare professional before starting a new exercise program.