FifPro has launched new guidelines for young mothers in football, including details on how they can return to full training and peak performance.
They have been prepared in consultation with medical and legal experts and cover three main topics, providing advice for players, their support teams and regulatory processes.
They provide clubs with greater insight into how to deal with returning mothers and the step-by-step processes they should follow during training, recovery and their return to play.
Areas covered include breastfeeding, sleep hygiene, nutrition, mental health, delivery methods, pelvic health and exercise programs.
Female footballers and mothers were consulted in drawing up the guidelines. Among them were former Jamaican international Cheyna Matthews, US World Cup winner Crystal Dunn, German goalkeeper Almuth Schult and Icelandic midfielder Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, who won a lawsuit against her former club Lyon., external because she was not paid her full salary during her pregnancy.
According to a survey by FifPro, 75% of players felt that their clubs had not previously offered them any pregnancy-specific expert support.
Alexandra Gomez-Bruinewoud, FifPro’s senior legal adviser, believes the priority is to continue to push for automatic contract renewal for pregnant women at all clubs, as introduced by AC Milan earlier this month.
Currently, the average contract length for a professional female footballer worldwide is just one year.
Commenting on the introduction of the new guidelines, mother-of-three Matthews said: “It’s important that there are guidelines in place that show that it is possible (to be a mother and a footballer). This will help people understand that they don’t have to be separate.”
“I initially kept my son away from training because I didn’t want to be seen as ‘the mom.’ I still wanted to be seen as a professional.”
The new guidelines, she said, “alleviate the stress and uncertainty,” adding that there are “still things to work through” but having this foundation in place is “of paramount importance for players around the world.”
She added: “The biggest question was about training during pregnancy. How long did it take before I could start training again? You want to have an idea of that. Having those things is so important. That was the most important question.”
