The Professional Footballers’ Association is funding surgery for female footballers because their clubs are not obliged to provide them with private medical insurance.

Telegraph Sport can reveal that the players’ union is helping those players who would otherwise have relied on the NHS or self-financing to cover the cost of operations.

While all 11 clubs in the Football Association Women’s Super League are full-time, ­financial constraints mean the provision of private medical insurance is not required for a side to be given professional status.

It is understood Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham United are among those top-flight clubs who do provide players with private health insurance as standard, but the PFA confirmed it had assisted with financing operations for players at other clubs.

A PFA spokesperson said: “We would like to see full provision of private medical included in the women’s contracts for the professional players, the same as their male counterparts. We recognise that financial constraints make that more difficult in the women’s game, but we do feel it should be a prerequisite for clubs to have professional status.

“We’ve had multiple inquiries for assistance, and have helped players in a manner of different ways. We use residential rehabilitation for PFA members at St George’s Park and we have assisted with the funding of operations for players who haven’t been able to get it through the club.