PFA Camp Provides Out-of-Contract WSL Players a Professional Environment
Every July, the same pictures roll across timelines. Smiling squads back in club gear. First-day fitness tests. New signings shaking hands with new managers.
For players without a contract, those images sting.
“Every player I spoke to mentioned that moment,” said Victoria Williams, Head of Women’s Football at the Professional Footballers’ Association and a former defender with Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion. “They’d had positive seasons or had come back from injury, but then they started seeing players returning to clubs and that’s when their minds started racing.”
This summer, the PFA decided that feeling of limbo needed a proper answer.
Across the weeks beginning 15 and 22 July, the union staged its first dedicated pre-season training camp for out-of-contract Women’s Super League and Women’s Super League 2 players. Not a holding pen. A fully-fledged, elite environment designed to keep careers moving, not drifting.
A camp built for professionals, not leftovers
The timing is no accident. Women’s football in England is accelerating. Investment is rising, the leagues are attracting more international talent, and the margins for staying in the top two tiers are getting thinner.
With WSL2 now fully professional ahead of the 2025/26 season, the PFA has expanded its membership to cover both divisions. That means more women than ever can lean on the union’s support – and crucially, they can do it when they’re between contracts, not just when they’re safely inside a dressing room.
“The intention has always been to run a women’s camp alongside the men’s,” Williams said. “Now that WSL2 is fully professional, we’re seeing more players who genuinely want to build a career in football. If they’re out of contract, especially in WSL2, dropping into tier three isn’t always straightforward because of the differences in professional conditions.
“As the game continues to grow, the need for this type of support is only going to increase.”
The two-week programme was set up to mirror the standards of a top club. Daily football sessions. Gym work. Structure. Intensity. But the PFA added something even the best clubs can’t always offer: integrated support from its wellbeing, personal development and business school teams.
It meant players could sharpen their touch and their tactical awareness while also getting help with life off the pitch – whether that was planning a second career, managing finances or simply coping with the anxiety of not knowing where they’ll play next.
Williams is clear about one thing: this is not a last resort.
“I think people sometimes see these camps as somewhere players go because they haven’t got a club, but it’s not like that,” she said. “They’re there so players can train in an elite environment while having the time and space to make the best decision for themselves.
“If we can provide a pre-season environment that matches the standards they’d experience at a club, they don’t have to rush into a move simply because they feel they’re falling behind.”
‘Thank goodness I’ve got somewhere to go’
For former Nottingham Forest striker Libby Smith, that difference was tangible. Out of contract, trying to stay sharp, she walked into a set-up that felt instantly familiar – and crucially, professional.
“The facilities are top. Everything is professional. It’s all run very smoothly,” Smith said.
“It makes a massive difference. It keeps motivation high and helps you get through the sessions. Being here has kept my fitness high and allowed me to work on the individual things I wanted to improve.
“The coaches have been brilliant, asking if there's anything specific I wanted help with. It will help me hit the ground running when I join a new club.”
That phrase – “hit the ground running” – is the point. Players weren’t just filling time. They were preparing to step straight into a new dressing room and compete from day one.
But ask Williams what resonated most and she doesn’t start with tactics or conditioning. She talks about belonging.
“There is that moment in summer where they think, ‘Thank goodness I've got somewhere to get in the car and go to and be around players’,” she said.
“It’s exactly what we hear from the men’s camps as well. It’s a genuine feeling of, ‘I've got a purpose and somewhere to go where I feel supported and I’ve got a bit of autonomy over my future’.”
When the women’s game was largely semi-professional, gaps between contracts could be awkward but survivable. As the sport professionalises, those gaps can feel far more precarious.
“There can be financial pressure, personal circumstances and the feeling that time is running out,” Williams said. “When teams start going back into pre-season and you still don’t know what’s next, it can be a very unsettling time. We want players to know they’re not on their own.”
Recreating the club – and rebuilding belief
The football itself matters. So does the gym work. But for many, the real battle plays out in their heads.
“When you’re training on your own and you don’t know what the future holds, that takes a lot out of you,” Williams said. “If we can recreate that club environment, remind players what they’re capable of and help them walk away confident in their ability and knowing people believe in them, then that’s a huge success.”
This is where the camp went beyond cones and drills. Sessions with wellbeing staff tackled the psychological strain of uncertainty. Personal development support helped players think about the bigger picture of their careers, not just their next 90 minutes.
The effect was already visible before the final whistle on the programme.
The inaugural camp produced encouraging signs on the market: players received multiple offers before the two weeks were even up. The message was clear. This wasn’t a waiting room. It was a launchpad.
From experiment to summer staple
As the last session wrapped, the PFA’s focus moved quickly to what comes next. Feedback from the players is already shaping plans for year two.
Starting earlier is on the table. So is the introduction of friendly matches to mirror the men’s long-established programme – another step towards giving out-of-contract women the same tools their male counterparts have had for years.
“We want this to become a staple of the summer calendar,” Williams said. “Provided players want it, we’ll always put it on. We’ve learned a huge amount from this first year and now it’s about making next year’s camp even bigger and better.”
The first group through the door have done more than just keep themselves fit. They’ve set a standard.
“I really credit the bravery of the players who attended,” Williams said. “They didn't know what this was going to look like. There wasn’t a previous camp they could look at and there were no women who had done it before.
“The players turned up, worked incredibly hard and got so much out of it. Hopefully, next year more players will look at this and think, ‘Maybe I should register too’.”
Next summer, the familiar pre-season photos will flood social media again. Squads back in training. New signings unveiled. And if the PFA’s vision holds, a growing group of out-of-contract professionals will be pulling on training bibs of their own, not watching from home but driving their futures from the front.
