On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

US golf star Nelly Korda came out swinging this weekend, taking second place at the Tournament of Champions to launch her 2025 LPGA campaign.

The world No. 1 narrowly fell to tournament winner No. 35 A Lim Kim, with the South Korean standout picking up her third career LPGA win and her second since November 2024. Her 20-under-par result also marked her second straight win in which she never trailed at the end of any round.

Korda pulled within one stroke of Kim on the back nine, before the eventual champion surged ahead with three birdies in her last four holes. With her 7-under Sunday performance, Korda finished the tournament at an impressive 18-under.

The result marked Korda's fifth-straight Top 5 finish, a streak that dates back to last August's AIG Women's Open.

"This is what I love about golf — being in the hunt on a Sunday going down the back nine," an upbeat Korda told reporters after her final round. "I'm never going to complain finishing second in a tournament and giving it a run... There are definitely a couple putts I would like to have back, but overall I think I'm very happy with this week and excited for next week."

Next up: Korda's home course advantage

The LPGA next lands in Korda's hometown of Bradenton, Florida, for the Founders Cup, which tees off on Thursday.

That home course advantage, as well as the fact that Korda won the Drive On Championship on those links last season, makes her the tournament's unofficial favorite this year.

Fellow US star and world No. 14 Rose Zhang is the Founders Cup's defending champion, with her win snapping Korda's historic five-tournament win streak last year. That said, the 2024 edition took place at New Jersey's Upper Montclair Country Club, so the Florida relocation removes the course familiarity that would normally give the reigning title-holder an assumed edge.

Korda's preparation for the upcoming competition will be intentionally light, as she doesn't normally practice during tournament weeks.

"Definitely some areas where I feel like I need to kind of tighten up some loose ends," Korda said on Sunday. “Overall, I think I can’t complain about the state of my golf game right now.”

Unlike her jam-packed season start last year, this week's even will be Korda's last before a seven-week pause. She has opted out of three upcoming tournaments — the Honda LPGA Thailand, the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, or the Blue Bay LPGA in China.

Korda will instead return to play at the end of March, when the Ford Championship tees off in Chandler, Arizona.

Fans who packed Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena for WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark's jersey retirement snagged an additional treat on Sunday, as unranked Iowa upset No. 4 USC 76-69 to record their first Top 10 win in the post-Clark era.

Transfer guard Lucy Olsen led the Hawkeyes with 28 points, eclipsing USC sophomore superstar JuJu Watkins's 27 points. Overall, Iowa's defense held the Trojans to a low 35.4% from the field to clinch the upset win.

Despite suffering their second loss of the season, the full USC contingent remained on the court to witness Clark's No. 22 jersey rise into the rafters.

"I'm really impressed with the atmosphere here," USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb​ said after the game. "We had decided prior to the outcome of the game that we were going to stay out there to honor her and women's basketball."

"We get to write our own story but are part of a synergy around women’s basketball that has in many ways, emanated from here," Gottlieb continued. "Congratulations to her. There's nothing I could say that hasn't been said. But the respect she's shown us, the humanity she's shown us, I'm definitely a fan."

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South Carolina hangs up Wilson's No. 22 jersey

Another legendary No. 22 earned a Sunday celebration in South Carolina. Before taking down Auburn 83-66, the No. 2 Gamecocks retired three-time WNBA champion A'ja Wilson's jersey.

The athletic department's policy doesn't retire numbers even if a jersey is enters the rafters. However, coach Dawn Staley has clarified that no other Gamecock on the women's basketball team will ever wear No. 22.

Wilson arguably put South Carolina's program on the national map. Before becoming a three-time WNBA MVP, she was South Carolina's first-ever four-time All-American. She helped the Gamecocks to a program-first national championship in 2017, just two seasons after making their first Final Four. The 2018 National Player of the Year is still the team's all-time leader for both points (2,389) and blocks (363).

South Carolina has a five-year waiting period before former athletes can see their jersey retired. Frustrated with that policy, Staley helped push the building of Wilson's statue, which earned a spot on campus in 2021.

"I'm happy we are able to give her her flowers at such a young age where she'll be able to smell them for a very long time," Staley commented on Sunday.

That said, even Staley acknowledged that Wilson has a lot more to give to the sport.

"Everything that she's wanted to do and accomplish she has done, and she's only 28 years old. She's not even in her prime yet," she noted.

Sunday's ceremony seemed to add fuel to Wilson's drive, with the icon telling the crowd in Columbia, "As I look in the rafters and see my jersey, I am reminded how important it is to chase your dreams without fear."

The WNBA is all shook up, as the league's February 1st free agency signing day radically reshaped rosters from coast to coast.

In the largest offseason trade so far, the Phoenix Mercury and Dallas Wings took the buyer's market by storm while the Connecticut Sun sent starters packing in preparation for a major rebuild. Along with the Indiana Fever, these four teams moved a total of 13 players and 18 assets, making it the most prolific single trade in WNBA history.

Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) and Satou Sabally (Dallas) headlined the deal, joining Phoenix alongside Dallas's Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun.

Connecticut took Phoenix's Natasha Cloud and Rebecca Allen (who's reportedly moving on to Chicago), plus Dallas's Jacy Sheldon and a first-round draft pick.

Indiana picked up Sophie Cunningham (Phoenix), Jaelyn Brown (Dallas), and a second-round draft pick.

To close it out, Dallas's haul included DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut), Ty Harris (Connecticut), and NaLyssa Smith (Indiana) as well as additional player considerations and draft futures.

That blockbuster four-team transaction comes on the heels of last week's history-making trade between the LA Sparks, Las Vegas Aces, and Seattle Storm, which became official over the weekend. The league's first-ever trade involving multiple former No. 1 draft picks sent Las Vegas's Kelsey Plum to the Sparks and Seattle's Jewell Loyd to the Aces, with the Storm grabbing the 2025 WNBA Draft's No. 2 pick.

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More WNBA teams flex free agency muscles

Phoenix and Dallas weren't the only teams ​profiting off of Connecticut's reshuffling, as 2025 postseason hopefuls Indiana and Atlanta jumped into the market.

Sun standout DeWanna Bonner and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard (Dallas) both inked one-year deals with the Fever, joining recently re-signed All-Star Kelsey Mitchell in Indiana.

The Atlanta Dream complemented last week's game-changing Brittney Griner pick-up by netting Connecticut forward Brionna Jones.

Other teams have also kept their names in the mix, with Chicago officially bringing back two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot, who spent 12 seasons with the Sky before her title-winning stint with the Liberty.

The Sky are also reportedly courting Sparks free agent Kia Nurse after sending guard Lindsay Allen and the rights to forward Nikolina Milic to the Sun in exchange for Australia Opals star Rebecca Allen.

In another key free agency signing, Connecticut is bringing eight-time All-Star Tina Charles back after drafting the 36-year-old first overall in 2010.

With the free agency floodgates fully open and a highly anticipated new CBA prompting a wave of one-year deals, even more big-name signings are likely ahead of April's WNBA Draft.

No. 7 LSU survived an offensive shootout​ with No. 13 Oklahoma on Thursday, toppling the Sooners 107-100 in a chippy SEC battle that saw 53 personal fouls, five technical fouls, and two players ejected.

LSU forward Sa'Myah Smith and Oklahoma forward Liz Scott were both tossed in the first quarter following a shoving match in the paint. Just over four minutes into the game, Smith pushed Sooner center Beatrice Culliton to the ground, then Scott retaliated by shoving Smith.

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"Pushing, I guess, is considered fighting," said LSU head coach Kim Mulkey after the game. "[Smith's reaction] was shocking. It hurt our team with her not being a part of tonight, because we're trying to develop her."

"My old mentor Leon Barmore always said you've got to keep a cool head in a hot game," commented Mulkey, who also booked herself a technical later in the matchup alongside Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

LSU, Oklahoma make SEC basketball history

Last night's attacking firepower made SEC women's basketball history, marking the first-ever game where each team scored at least 100 points in regulation.

Sophomore Mikaylah Williams scored a season-high 37 points to lead the Tigers over the finish line after nearly giving up a double-digit lead.

LSU stars Flau'jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow added a respective 25 and 21 points to the Tigers' tally, while Payton Verhulst led the Sooners' scoring with 26 points.

With the loss, Oklahoma falls to 4-4 in SEC play, a record that more accurately showcases the conference's strength rather than the Sooners' weakness.

NCAA teams to honor WNBA stars this weekend

The top-ranked NCAA action continues this weekend, with two WNBA superstars seeing their jerseys retired in ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.

First, No. 2 South Carolina will honor three-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson alongside the Gamecocks' game against unranked Auburn, before unranked Iowa will commemorate all-time NCAA leading-scorer Caitlin Clark during a high-profile matchup with No. 4 USC.

Not long after, the Sooners will be back in the weekend's only Top 15 meeting, hosting No. 12 Kentucky late Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats improved to 7-1 in SEC play on Thursday, thanks to a 65-56 win over No. 22 Alabama.

How to watch this weekend's top NCAA basketball games

No. 2 South Carolina and Auburn will tip off Sunday's slate at 12 PM ET, live on ESPN, with Iowa's game against No. 4 USC following at 1:30 PM ET on Fox Sports.

No. 12 Kentucky's visit to No. 13 Oklahoma then begins at 4 PM ET Sunday, with live coverage on SECN.