Unlike in the crowded men's calendar, the report says that in most women's leagues "a player could play a maximum of only 22 games, which can make continued professional development challenging".

The Women's Champion League is cited as a competition that has increased the number of matches - but it is the only European competition in the sport, whereas the men's game has three European competitions.

The report, which was conducted before the Euros got under way, showed that the players from Germany, France, Spain and Sweden played the most European club games - nations that make up three of the four semi-finalists in the competition.

England - who face Germany in the final on Sunday after beating Sweden 4-0 - did not have as many players in European competition but their squad averaged the joint most minutes played as a result of there being two domestic cup competitions in the country.

Sarah Gregorius, director of global policy and strategic relations for women's football at Fifpro, says it is not only the non-elite players who need to be playing more matches.

"Some players in the Euros aren't playing enough," she said. "I think one really telling statistic is that England, for example, played 45% more matches in the last year than Northern Ireland. So I think even in women's football among the best 16 teams in Europe, there is still a gap.

"There are still vastly different levels of preparedness coming into the tournament. We still need to improve on those countries and on those domestic leagues in particular and how we grow them to make sure that if they're competing on the same stage, the level in which they can prepare is somewhat equalised or a little bit more equitable across the board.

"Otherwise, unfortunately you're going to end up in a situation where the gap just continues to grow and gets bigger and bigger because we are focusing on only one part of the elite pyramid."