Players in England’s fully professional Women’s Super League are at risk of being sacked by their clubs if an injury or illness sidelines them for more than three months.

A clause found deep in the small-print of the standard contracts used by WSL teams states that clubs are at liberty to offload players in such circumstances providing they offer them three months’ notice.

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Although no WSL team has activated the clause since its installation in contracts in 2011, its existence highlights the fragility of the foundations underpinning Europe’s only wholly professional league.

The Football Association, which runs the WSL, was quick to respond to the revelation made by the Danish newspaper Politiken, describing the clause as necessary because of the “unique demands” of the embryonic English game. In extreme circumstances the notice period could, legally, be served from the moment of first diagnosis.

An FA spokesperson stressed the standard contract complies with UK employment law and was agreed after consultation with both the clubs and the Professional Footballers’ Association. It also confirmed it is due for review next year when there will be scope for changes.

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This could move the women’s contracts closer to those of their counterparts in the men’s Premier League where players can be offloaded by clubs with six- to 12-months’ notice should they be sidelined from training and/or playing for 18 months.

Given that injuries are an occupational hazard for footballers, the women’s contracts appear draconian by comparison but the FA regards them as a necessary evil for a league which turned fully professional only in September to properly get off the ground. It described the clauses as a “bespoke measure to support the sustainability of elite level women’s football in England”, and said the intention had been to “shape a player contract that the women’s football pyramid could financially sustain”.

The FA spokesperson added: “It differs from men’s professional football, which is better suited to accommodate the additional financial liability of long-term injuries to players.”

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Maren Mjelde, Chelsea’s versatile Norway captain, does not like the arrangement. “It’s very disappointing,” she said. “No player chooses to be injured. I think it’s horrible that this is in the contract and it should be removed.

With female footballers six times more likely to suffer a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament than their male equivalents, the risk of injury remains a worry for women choosing to turn professional. It explains why Tanya Oxtoby, the Bristol City manager, told the Guardian she is “massive on the importance of dual careers” whereby players work or study part-time rather than be 100% reliant on football. This seems particularly important in a league where many are employed on one-year contracts.

It is understood that none of the WSL’s larger clubs – Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal among them – would contemplate invoking the clause in relation to any contracted player but it exists to protect smaller, less financially insulated teams.

Under current arrangements Jordan Nobbs, the Arsenal and England midfielder who has recently torn the ACL in her left knee could, in theory, be told she is to be released tomorrow but, instead, Arsenal are intent on providing one of their key players with the best possible treatment and will support Nobbs throughout her rehabilitation.

She benefits further from also holding a central contact with England which contains no such exclusion clauses, while her position in Phil Neville’s squad means that the Lionesses’ medical staff have been liaising with their Arsenal counterparts over the choice of surgeon to repair the knee and manage the subsequent rehab plan. In a purely club context, Birmingham retained and supported their goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger through treatment and recovery after the German was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last year. Although Berger returned to action after three months, the contractual clause was never an issue.