Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema has announced she has ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament and has ruled herself out of the Women’s World Cup.
The Dutch striker was carried off on a stretcher in tears after landing awkwardly during last Thursday’s Champions League game against Lyon.
“Absolutely gutted to share I’ve ruptured my ACL in our last game against Lyon,” Miedema said on Twitter. It was one of those moments where I knew straight away. So many things going through your head: I won’t be able to help my team anymore this season, no World Cup, surgery and rehab for a long, long time.
“I won’t be telling you I’ll come back stronger or that I’m looking forward to spending the next however many months in the gym. It will be tough with plenty of difficult days (plenty of crying, which we’ve had a lot of already), but sadly enough it’s part of football.”
The World Cup runs from 20 July to 20 August next year in Australia and New Zealand. Miedema’s injury is a big blow for the Netherlands, who were runners-up at the 2019 World Cup in France.
Arsenal said in a statement that the 26-year-old would undergo surgery in the coming days and would be ruled out for “an extended period of time”. “A more detailed timescale will be established once the operation is complete,” the club said.
Miedema is the second Arsenal player to suffer the same injury in a month after her fellow forward, and off-field partner, Beth Mead, who is also out for the long term.
Miedema’s absence will, like Mead’s, be a huge loss for Arsenal, who are second in the Women’s Super League at the winter break. Miedema has played for Arsenal since 2017 and is the Women’s Super League’s all-time leading goalscorer.