The association of women soccer players FUTPRO has presented this Wednesday a study on maternity in women’s soccer based on the opinion of more than 40% of Spanish professional players, and with the aim of offering a comprehensive vision and obtaining rights and improvements in the conditions. “Currently the collective agreement does not protect the maternity of women at all. If a soccer player becomes pregnant, she is at the mercy of the club’s protocols ”, assured Amanda Gutiérrez, the president of FUTPRO. The fear of reprisals from the teams and work-life balance are some of the main concerns of athletes: 90% of professional players feel that it is difficult to reconcile maternity with elite sport, despite the fact that 72 % does not rule out being a mother. “They want to be mothers, and they must be able to be,” Gutiérrez remarked.
“No footballer would have to sacrifice her career to become a mother,” Norwegian footballer Ingrid Stenevi once insisted. 46% of the country’s professional players are worried about possible reprisals from the club: nothing protects them. In the women’s soccer collective agreement, only one article contemplates them: “they can decide whether to renew for another year or not, without specifying anything else,” explains the president of FUTPRO. That is why more than 60% are afraid that their contract will end at the moment they become pregnant. The gynecological doctor Rebeca Beguería recalls that one more year, on many occasions, is not enough to return to the field of play recovered. “A natural birth is not the same as a cesarean section, in which the recommended minimum is one year. In addition, they can have many complications, and postpartum recovery is not easy, neither on a hormonal, emotional, nor physical level ”, highlights Beguería. That is why more than 30% are afraid of not returning to the same physical level.
Something similar happened to Marta Corredera, a former Real Madrid soccer player. The player, after announcing her pregnancy, renewed her contract with the white team for one year: she did not play all season. “I am not physically well. I have had sequelae from that caesarean section and I am not training not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t, ”she said in an interview on the DAZN Twitch channel last year. A different case was that of the granota captain María de Alharilla (Levante UD), since the club “turned out to help the footballer, but they found nothing in the collective agreement”, assured Gutiérrez, who has attributed that there is no no regulation and information for teams.
Salary and facilities: insufficient for maternity
From FUTPRO they remember the minimum salary for soccer players: 16,000 euros per year. More than 30% of players are afraid that their economy is too unstable, and practically the same percentage rules out getting pregnant in order to protect their sports career. “We want to promote funds, support measures. There is a lack of financial support. If you don’t have a good economic situation, you don’t consider being a mother”, highlighted Gutiérrez. Their rights as pregnant women, since they are not regulated in the collective agreement, are only protected and included in the Workers’ Statute: 16 weeks off with 100% of their regulatory base.
It is also included in the new Sports Law which, in its article 4.7 says: “Spanish sports federations and professional leagues will be obliged to draw up a specific conciliation and co-responsibility plan with specific protection measures in cases of maternity and lactation, which they must make available to the sports entities that are members of the federation.” The law requires from January 2023.
FUTPRO proposes setting up lactation rooms or areas, or even allowing the mother to travel with the baby to concentrations, as is the case of the American soccer player Alex Morgan. They also argue the need to carry out specialized training during pregnancy and after, in addition to paid leave in aspects related to future children. “We believe that these measures should be essential in women’s football. There are clubs that lack a structured plan for the preparation of a pregnant soccer player”, Gutiérrez has sentenced. All the players in the study believe that it is necessary for their clubs to implement actions to reconcile family and work.
Little visibility and information for soccer players and clubs
The low visibility, the null protection in the collective agreement and the little information about maternity in the soccer players themselves and in the clubs are some of the main problems that the study points out. Beguería talks, above all, about prevention: “girls who are in such a powerful moment at work are not aware of the options for freezing eggs. Maternity is currently being postponed for work reasons, and information is needed. 40% of the soccer players declare that they would have formed a family sooner than they will because they are elite athletes, while 90% have not considered freezing their ovules.
While in Spain the visibility of pregnant soccer players refers to Marta Corredera and María de Alharilla -although the first professional soccer player to be an active mother was Maider Irisarri in 2019- and in the rest of Europe she is still making her way with examples such as from Sara Björk, Elin Rubbensson or ex-Barcelona Stefanie Van der Gragt, in the United States they have advocated normalizing and protecting soccer players who decide to be mothers. Other players, such as Irene Paredes and former player Melanie Serrano have been mothers in recent years, although the pregnant women were their partners. “The protagonists are women, and they want to be mothers. You have to adapt football and stop treating women as if it were men. Measures must be taken, information sought and actions taken”, concluded the president of FUTPRO.
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