In the build-up to the Women’s World Cup, European teams played twice as much as those in Asia and the Caribbean over the last 10 months, a report by world soccer players' union Fifpro has revealed.

The “World Cup Workload Journey Report”, made by Fifpro along with Football Benchmark, conducted an analysis of data of 300 players and underlined how underload could seriously limit their performance.

The report showed that players had “vastly different playing opportunities” in the run-up to the World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.

England, Spain and Portugal were found to have collectively played about twice as many minutes for their clubs and national team in the last 10 months as their counterparts from Jamaica, Haiti, and the Philippines.

The disparity is due to less established domestic competitions and limited use of the international match calendar.

Spain goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez, who plays for Real Madrid, and Japan’s Moeka Minami, a defender for AS Roma, played more than any other World Cup player, with more than 4,000 minutes on the pitch.

Elsewhere, defending champions U.S. played 65 games since winning the 2019 tournament in France – the highest number of games played by any World Cup participant.

In comparison, Haiti played only 19 and went two years without playing a match during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the suspension or cancellation of many competitions.

In regions where there is a lack of competitive football, countries relied on friendlies for a long stretch – Zambia had as many as 23 consecutive friendlies, while Brazil had 18 friendlies in a row, and Colombia and Argentina both had 16.

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a fantastic celebration of the women’s game but is also a time to analyze the sometimes-patchy development of the sport,” FIFPRO General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said.

“The data shows competitive opportunities for players globally is largely dependent on the context of domestic football in their home country, as well as the availability of international club football.”

The report highlighted how the domestic and international calendars in the women’s game remain uneven and fragmented, leaving many players in countries where football is less developed forced to move abroad to improve or face the prospect of not having enough matches to reach their potential.

Of the non-European countries, the report said that Japan and Brazil players collectively had the most minutes on the pitch over the last 10 months.

Australia, U.S., and Canada players had significantly fewer minutes than most national teams because of smaller or non-existent domestic leagues. Canada does not currently have a domestic women’s football league.

“Player workload is an important lens through which to assess some the overall needs of women’s football from an access, development, and competitive aspect,” Sarah Gregorius, Fifpro Director Global Policy & Strategic Relations, Women’s Football, said.

“By using the milestone of the Women’s World Cup and the context for participating players, we can see where football stakeholders can come together to improve the international match calendar and make data-driven decisions on how to add and innovate with competitions to better promote performance and wellbeing for more players.”

Last month, Fifpro urged governing body FIFA to improve conditions for all players in qualifiers for the next Women’s World Cup after a report highlighted multiple inconsistencies in the scheduling, duration and format during this year’s qualification phase.

Fifpro has called for standalone World Cup qualifying competitions in CONMEBOL, Concacaf, CAF and AFC confederations that cover the Americas, Africa, and Asia. European football’s governing body UEFA EFA is the only region with a standalone World Cup qualifying competition.