Purpose This article examines how governance structures and organisational practices shape the professional landscape of women's football, with particular attention to how they influence athletes' working conditions and career pathways at both the meso (institutional and organisational) and micro (athlete development and career experience) levels. Design/methodology/approach An integrative review was conducted following Whittemore and Knafl's five-step approach. The review analyses 37 peer-reviewed studies published between 2019 and 2023, identified through Web of Science™ and screened using Rayyan. Findings are organised through a multilevel analytical structure distinguishing meso-level governance, clubs and leagues, and micro-level athlete pathways and elite working conditions. Findings Professionalisation emerges as a gradual and uneven process shaped by governance priorities, organisational arrangements and gendered labour relations. Structural dependencies inherited from men's football reproduce asymmetries in investment, regulation and organisational capacity, constraining substantive change. At the micro level, players' pathways and employment conditions remain marked by dual-career pressures, precarious contracts and uneven access to welfare protections, even in high-visibility contexts. Overall, the evidence indicates that professionalisation cannot be inferred from competitive success or commercial growth alone but should be assessed through the labour and developmental conditions afforded to athletes. Originality/value The review consolidates a multilevel perspective that links institutional decisions, organisational practices and athletes' career conditions within a single interpretive frame, offering conceptual and practical foundations for more equitable, accountable and sustainable professional environments in women's football.
Alcântara et al. (Thu,) studied this question.