Summary Objective: This study examined how professional and academy-level female soccer players perceive the impact of menstrual symptoms on their athletic performance and assessed the relationship between symptom severity and perceived performance impairment. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, 106 players in Austria completed an online questionnaire evaluating the severity of physical and mental menstrual symptoms and their perceived impact on performance. Paired-sample t-tests were used to compare symptom severity with perceived performance impairment. Results: Players reported that physical symptoms impaired performance significantly more than their reported severity, whereas mental symptom severity and perceived impact were nearly identical. Strong positive correlations were observed between symptom severity and perceived performance impairment for both physical and mental symptoms, indicating that athletes with more intense symptoms consistently reported greater performance limitations. Implications: These findings highlight the relevance of menstrual symptom burden in elite women`s soccer and emphasize the need for cycle-aware training environments. Increased awareness and individualized symptom-management strategies may help optimize performance, support athlete well-being, and facilitate more informed coaching practices. Autorreferat
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