More than 90% of female footballers have considered quitting the game. That is the outcome of the most extensive survey of its kind, carried out by world players’ union Fifpro, which interviewed more than 3,000 footballers at the top of the game for its report, Working Conditions in Professional Women’s Football. The fragility of the foundations on which women’s football is being built has been laid bare.

It has been a tumultuous year for the sport. Huge highs – not least the phenomenal support around Euro 2017 and increasing professionalism across the top of European leagues – have been tempered by a cacophony of national team wage disputes while in England, the summer success of the Lionesses has been marred by the Mark Sampson saga and exposure of the FA’s inability to handle crisis in the game.

All these things, the good and the bad, indicate the same thing: that women’s football is being taken more seriously than it has been in more than 100 years. Yet the overwhelming majority of players are not working in environments that foster longevity in the game. With 69% of players aged between 18 and 23, huge swathes are being lost before they hit their prime. The reasons for considering leaving early – financial, to start a family, to work, to study, sick of the lack of structure in football – highlight just how hard it is for women at the top to make football pay. A professional playing environment is one thing, but providing players with the wages, pensions and long-term career opportunities off the pitch that make for a viable future in the game is a long way off.

In England, things are slightly rosier. Where globally the average contract length for players is 12 months (with 47% of those surveyed having no contract at all), in the Women’s Super League it stands at 21 months. Both of these figures, though, are inadequate. It is no wonder players worry about the future when, at best, they can secure two years at a club.

At the same time, an overwhelming majority of players do not earn enough from football to live on, let alone a wage that can offer long-term sustainability. A staggering 50% of those who participated in the survey are not paid to play at all while almost two-thirds earn less than $600 (£450) a month. And 37% of those paid are paid late.

Again, in England it is brighter, but wages still rank lower for the vast majority of players than would be considered liveable, with the average salary of the 99 surveyed WSL players found to be £749 to £1497 per month. While 26% said their club does not cover their football expenses, just 13% have a retirement fund and 11% have no written contract. It is no wonder, then, that 46% of players across the world said they study while they play and 30% work alongside their football to make ends meet.

The lack of support for players wanting to start a family is equally as damning. A devastatingly low 2% of players have children, a figure that in England drops to 1%. It is the second-biggest reason for leaving the game (behind finance) and a huge part of the lives of so many women, yet clubs seem incapable of providing support that gives players the confidence to believe they can have children before returning to their club and their playing career. Instead we see players hanging up their boots to start a family, or delaying parenthood for as long as possible to continue playing.

Talent is going unharnessed, is being hindered by the struggle to make ends meet and is being lost entirely. It will be impossible for the quality of women’s football to improve, and for commercialism to increase, if players cannot commit to it professionally from an early age and for the long term.

The women’s game is growing, but the increase in – or introduction of – professionalism is not enough. Professionalism needs transforming and standardising from top to bottom. Professionalism that does not pay enough to live on, that fails to offer contractual security, that cannot provide for families and that cannot offer professional structures throughout, cannot be considered true professionalism. It is not sufficient. The players deserve better and this fledgling game needs much stronger foundations if it is going to make leaps in its growth and make that growth sustainable.

Talking points

• The FA has revealed the list of WSL clubs that have been successful in their applications for places in the top two divisions next season (currently WSL 1 and WSL 2). All 17 clubs that submitted bids for the fully professional top flight and semi-professional tier two have been accepted into the leagues they bid for. Of the three that did not bid, Sunderland are expected to launch a joint bid in March, while Watford and Oxford United will drop into the amateur leagues. Yeovil, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to help maintain their top-flight status, were given the green light by the FA despite concerns they would be forced into tier two. Hope Powell’s Brighton & Hove Albion will jump up into tier one for the first time.

Yeovil Town launched a crowdfunding campaign to help maintain their status. Photograph: Allward for FA/Rex/Shutterstock

• Everton’s Courtney Sweetman-Kirk has been selected as FA WSL 1 player of the month for November. Following Everton’s promotion to the top flight, the striker has been in fine form having scored her first goal of the season against Birmingham in the Continental Cup before grabbing a crucial goal against fellow WSL 1 stragglers Yeovil.

• Doncaster Rovers Belles’ Christie Murray has been named FA WSL 2 player of the month. Murray helped the Belles extend their lead at the top of the table, scoring a diving header in a vital win over Tottenham.

• The Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, has announced she is pregnant with twins. Having signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the Blues in October, Hayes has led Chelsea to the Champions League quarter-finals and her side are battling it out with Manchester City at the top of WSL 1, while she is in her first trimester. Incredible.

• If you were dismayed by Fifa’s nominees for the World Player of the Year award then look no further than The Offside Rule for an unofficial but much more comprehensive run down of the top 100 women’s footballers in the world. An impressive 59 judges made up of top managers, players, ex-players and journalists have contributed to the list, which will reveal those placed 10-1 on Friday.

• The Danish FA has announced that Lars Sondergaard will take over as the new coach of the women’s national team. This is his first managerial position in women’s football; he has previously managed Danish sides such as Viborg, Aalborg, SonderjyskE and the youth team for Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg. He replaces Nils Nielsen, who led the team to the final of Euro 2017 – which they lost 4-2 to Holland.