Applying male physical thresholds to female athletes skews the data. The resulting physical metrics simply do not reflect the true physical trends of women's football. Instead of providing clear insights, the numbers come out "flat," making proper evaluation almost impossible.

Because of this, clubs and federations have lacked the right tools to assess players based on the actual demands of the sport. When all the numbers are squashed together, scouts and analysts cannot clearly differentiate a standard physical profile from a genuine, elite outlier.

SkillCorner’s new Women’s Physical Data solves this problem. We have recalibrated our performance evaluation with new thresholds built specifically for the realities of the women’s game, finally giving teams the clarity they need to track and scout players accurately.

The Methodology

To build the first-ever framework with thresholds that truly reflect the women’s game, SkillCorner combined several areas of expertise:

• We adjusted metrics like Running, High-Speed Running, and Sprinting (both distances and counts) using FIFA standards, scientific research, and our own proprietary model, which we recalibrated specifically for the physical demands of women's football.
  
• For Medium and High Accelerations and Decelerations, SkillCorner’s R&D focused on matching the statistical distribution of male athletes, complementing it with our recalibrated model. This process ultimately established new, unprecedented thresholds for the industry.
  
• Finally, the differences in Total Distance and Meters per Minute between the two versions stem directly from the newly recalibrated proprietary model.

Why it matters 

From a scouting and recruitment perspective, Women’s Physical Data allows teams to better evaluate female athletes in two key ways: 

Elite Talent ID and Diversification

By recalibrating the flat player distributions caused by male evaluation baselines, clubs and federations can now differentiate players according to their true physical output. This makes it possible to clearly separate standard, elite, and generational players across the entire spectrum of key physical metrics.

Applied use case: when benchmarked against Centre Forwards in the WSL and NWSL using the new women-specific thresholds, Aggie Beever-Jones moves from registering zero explosive accelerations per match to a strong 77th percentile ranking.
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Women's Physical Data

Comprehensive Physical Profile

AggieBEEVER-JONESCHELSEA FC · ENGLAND · STRIKER · AGE: 22

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Physical Profile Differentiation

By adapting thresholds to the reality of the game, the distinction between physical profiles becomes much clearer. We can now easily separate elite performers from average ones who appeared statistically identical prior to this change.

Applied use case: under the men's threshold (above 3 m/s²), Player A and Player B record a nearly identical number of High Accelerations per game (5.0 vs. 5.2). However, Player A records an additional 5.4 High Accelerations per game in the zone between 2.7 and 3 m/s² — just below the men’s benchmark — while Player B registers only 1.2 in that same bracket.

When applying the new women-specific threshold (above 2.7 m/s²), which reflects true on-pitch performance, the profiles of these two players diverge significantly when compared to the broader sample of centre forwards. Player A jumps to an elite 10.4 High Accelerations per game, while Player B sits at 6.4.

By accurately capturing the reality of female physical output, recruitment teams can now surface players who looked similar on paper, but who actually deliver a vastly different physical impact on the pitch.

A new way to evaluate physical performance in women's football is finally available. For the first time, a new framework makes it right for the athletes, ensuring their true physical effort is recognized, while giving analysts, coaches, and managers the exact tools they need to succeed in the women's game.

Get in touch to learn more about our new Women’s Physical Data methodology and applications.