Conditions for pregnant female footballers have been vastly improved – but there is still a mountain to climb

“Want a family? Then you have to give up your career.”

That’s pretty much been the sentiment for women in football. Until now. Female footballers are finally getting support at the top level to have both.

Just a few weeks ago, the FA and Professional Footballers Association in the UK made a landmark agreement that will provide players in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship with a new policy, part of which focuses on significant changes to maternity leave.

A player going on maternity leave will be paid 100 per cent of her weekly salary. She will also receive any other remuneration and benefits for the first 14 weeks.

This comes a year after FIFPRO implemented maternity regulations that set about to protect the rights of female professional footballers who want to have children during their careers.

But despite improvements, there is still much work to be done. 

“Before the maternity regulations, contracts were usually silent about pregnancy—and they usually still are,” says Alexandra Gómez Bruinewoud, FIFPRO’s senior legal counsel.

“The general understanding was that if the player was pregnant, she had to stop playing and had no protection, so the harsh reality was that some players consciously decided not to become pregnant.”

Bruinewoud highlighted the occasional “shocking case that would remind players of the consequences” if they decided to become pregnant.

She points to an example of a case in Venezuela, where a professional player told the club she was pregnant and the club immediately dismissed her.

She turned to the Venezuelan football association’s National Dispute Resolution Chamber, which said that as there was an unexpected change of circumstances, the club had the right to terminate the contract with just cause, meaning that the player was left jobless and with no compensation, Bruinewoud explains. 

“This in a country where pregnant workers are naturally protected,” she says.

“This is one of the reasons why if we look at the past years, it has been very rare to see a pregnant professional player.”

In a 2017 survey by FIFPRO, Bruinewoud notes, players indicated that one of the main reasons why they were leaving football early was to have a family. 

While the new regulations have been approved, contracts have not changed much. Bruinewoud also points out that although these regulations are mandatory, they have not yet been implemented in the vast majority of the countries.

What has changed, she says, is the actual protection the players have, whether it is included in the contract or not. 

You can do both

In a new documentary tracking Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, a professional football player for Olympique Lyonnais and captain of Iceland’s national team, viewers get to see what it is like firsthand to be a professional female football player while being pregnant. 

This June, PUMA, in association with COPA90, will debut a documentary featuring Gunnarsdóttir throughout her pregnancy, after the birth of her child and as she attempts to return to football in time for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 competition in July.

“Through my public journey with PUMA, my main goal is to inspire other women that getting pregnant and being a professional footballer is something you can do—you don’t have to give up on your dreams to become a mother and have a family, you can do both,” says Gunnarsdóttir.

“But it’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take a lot of support from the people around you and your club.”

Gunnarsdóttir addresses the challenge of balancing both a family and career—even considering it.

“It’s a challenge to begin with because I’m learning and at the same time the club is learning how to manage a player with a family—what they need to have ready and prepared and organized for that player,” she says.

“It’s the ability to adapt to new and different circumstances on both sides that’s perhaps the biggest issue.”

The acceptance of maintaining a professional career and having a family was made easier through the regulations implemented by FIFPRO in January 2021.

Among the stipulations: “A minimum fourteen-week maternity leave, of which at least eight weeks must occur after the birth of the child; during the maternity leave the player shall be paid at least two thirds of the salary in case national law or CBA [collective bargaining agreement] does not state a higher standard; freedom of the player to decide if she continues playing or not, provided that her health, independently assessed, allows her to,” according to the FIFPRO site.

Still much work to be done

For Gunnarsdóttir, she would welcome the added stipulation to have a longer contract that would provide player stability and security upon returning after pregnancy, so that players don’t have to grapple with the worry of lost income. 

When discussions were initiated in November 2019, and the FIFPRO proposal was presented to FIFA in January 2020, Bruinewoud notes that “there was a common understanding that it was absolutely ridiculous that professional football players did not have protection on maternity.”

And so, the discussions began to center on the scope and strength of the protections, and the consequences for clubs that would not comply with regulations.

Meetings convened between football stakeholders from August to November and by the end of November 2020 an agreement was in place. 

Bruinewoud says there are more plans for further regulations, though there is no set timeframe for it.

“There is an agreement with FIFA and other stakeholders that this was just a first attempt in this area,” she says.

Among the other main topics that still need to be incorporated into the regulations are different forms of maternity leave - including after adoption, paternity leave, as well as internationally recognized standards which clubs should abide by when a player is travelling with a baby.

While Gunnarsdóttir was not among the female athletes that were outwardly pushing for the regulations, she had heard about it.

“I was hoping that it would go through not just for me, but for everyone playing,” Gunnarsdóttir says.

“This should have been addressed long ago, but now regulations are provided to the athletes.”

All clubs, she says, should be addressing the regulations. The critical importance of having the necessary knowledge and information about women in their pregnancy and how to manage helping these athletes when they make a return is vital to the success of each club, she says.

“I think clubs overall need to realize that this is not the norm right now, but the sport will reach a point when women athletes at the top level will not be sacrificing their careers just to have a family, but they will be doing both,” says Gunnarsdóttir.

“We’re going to see that much more in the future.” 

For its part, Olympique Lyonnais posted a statement on their website last April after learning the news of Gunnarsdóttir’s pregnancy, congratulating her and stating they “will do everything to ensure her return to the club occurs in the best possible conditions.”

Illuminating the issues

The planned documentary will live on the PUMA and COPA90 Youtube channels.

Matthias Baeumer, PUMA General Manager BU Teamsport, says when PUMA executives learned of her pregnancy, they reached out to offer any support that she might need. 

Following one of their catch ups, Baeumer recalls how Gunnarsdóttir discussed the challenges ahead and how many female athletes are apprehensive to start a family when playing football. 

“For this project, the aim was to give visibility and awareness to the issue of pregnancy during an athlete’s professional career to help educate and push for further action to be taken to help female athletes,” says Baeumer.

Baeumer acknowledges the introduction of the new rules that include a 14-week maternity cover and paid leave at two-thirds of players’ salary as a welcome introduction, but agrees that more needs to happen. 

“With many players on short-term contracts many still feel scared and uneasy having a child because they still do not have the security,” he says.

“We need additional protocols and processes in place to benefit the athletes and not inhibit them. The subject is still very taboo in the game so more education and awareness is needed, which is the basis of the documentary and content series.”

When asked about the main goals of the film, Lawrence Tallis, creative director at COPA90 and co-director of the film, says when they first started thinking about this project, the initial thought was to cover the specifics of the societal environment, like the legal framework and that which is grounded in science.

But, the focus turned solely to Gunnarsdóttir.  

“I think by telling her story and really showing what elite footballers experience in becoming pregnant and coming back from pregnancy and what issues arise out of that, hopefully that will illuminate something,” says Tallis.