During the 2023/24 season, Arsenal announced that their Swedish centre-back, Amanda Ilestedt, was expecting her first child. In the social media announcement, the club confirmed that Ilestedt would be taking part in ‘light training activities’, but would ‘not be available for selection until after she has given birth‘. The club also wrote that, ‘Amanda is doing well and we are supporting her closely throughout this new and exciting journey’. Arsenal’s statement suggests that there have been significant improvements and developments in the maternity support that football clubs provide to their players, but it is fair to say that this has not always been the case. Moreover, this level of support is also not the reality for many professional players balancing football and motherhood today.
The challenges of pregnancy and motherhood in the game – Gunnarsdóttir’s story:
The lack of maternity support for female footballers was brought to light in 2023, when Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir wrote a piece for The Players’ Tribune, detailing her experience of pregnancy and being a new mother at her former club, Lyon. Gunnarsdóttir, who fell pregnant in early 2021, agreed with Lyon that she would return home, to Iceland, for the final stages of her pregnancy, after being told by doctors that she should stop playing football, especially with the Covid risks at the time.
Gunnarsdóttir wrote in her piece that she always intended to return to Lyon, but when she was in Iceland, noticed that she did not get her first pay check. Instead, she only received a small percentage from social security. FIFPRO supported Gunnarsdóttir in her claim against Lyon and in May 2022, a FIFA tribunal ordered Lyon to pay the unpaid salaries of more than 82,000 euros. Lyon had to pay Gunnarsdóttir 82,094.82 euros, plus 5% interest a year until the debt had been cleared and FIFA warned Lyon that if they did not pay within 45 days of the decision then they would be given a transfer ban.
Writing her piece for The Players’ Tribune, Gunnarsdóttir said:
“I was entitled to my full salary during my pregnancy and until the start of my maternity leave, according to the mandatory regulations from Fifa. These are part of my rights, and this can’t be disputed – even by a club as big as Lyon.”
FIFPRO supported Gunnarsdóttir in her claim and said:
“We are pleased to have assisted her in achieving the first ruling of its kind since Fifa’s maternity regulations came into force in January 2021. It is extremely important for women footballers and the women’s game that these mandatory maternity regulations are both implemented and enforced at national level.”
What is the official policy?
In January 2022, a new maternity policy was agreed by the FA and PFA, which came into effect from the 2022-23 season. This policy formed part of a club’s licensing agreement and it must be offered to players to ensure licensing criteria is met. It also formed part of a revised Standard Contract for Women’s Football.
Under this new policy, a player going on maternity leave will be paid 100% of her weekly wage, as well as any other remuneration and benefits for the first 14 weeks, before reverting to the applicable statutory rate. This was a considerable uplift on the current minimum of statutory, and would previously have only been applied to players who had been employed by their club from a minimum of 26 weeks. The new policy has no qualifying period.
As well as maternity cover, the agreement also included amendments to pay a player if they are injured. The players now receive long-term sickness pay that mirrors the men’s game, in all new contracts. This means that the players receive their basic wage for the first 18 months if an injury occurs, then one half of their wage for the length of the injury thereafter. Previously, players received only 6 months of their pay.
This new agreement was a significant step towards providing more support for new mothers in women’s football, both during pregnancy and after childbirth, however, it is also fair to say that it is imperative that clubs follow this policy when supporting their players, and are financially able to stick to it, in order for it to be effective and make improvements for mothers in the women’s game.
Emma Mukandi’s story:
Another player who has spoken openly about the difficulties for new mothers in football is Emma Mukandi, who gave birth in November 2021, before returning for Scotland in August 2022 and for Reading when the WSL season started the following September.
Speaking on the FA’s 14-week policy, Mukandi said:
“If I was to have a kid now, I don’t think I’d be able to return 14 weeks after giving birth.”
Mukandi told Off the Ball’s COYGIG podcast:
“The policy is you only get 14 weeks’ full pay and and then you’ve got to go back to your work.”
At the time that Mukandi first found out that she was pregnant, she did not tell Reading until after the 12-week scan, as she said:
“at the time there was nothing in the contracts to say if you were pregnant there was any support put in place.”
As well as bringing to light the lack of support during pregnancy, Mukandi also highlighted the difficulties of returning to football after childbirth, particularly for football clubs with less money. She said:
“If you’re at an Arsenal or a Chelsea or a Man City and you’ve got loads of money, great facilities and that, having a baby there is not an issue at all but I think the lower down the league you go…it’s easier for clubs and CEOs to be like ‘No, this isn’t happening.’”
Mukandi said that Reading, who were playing in the WSL at the time, did not allow her to bring her daughter, Innes, into the training ground on days when she was not able to organise childcare. This is a significant disparity between clubs with greater funding and clubs with less money, when considering how football clubs can better support new mothers who are returning to football.
A more positive future for motherhood in women’s football:
Katrina Gorry, who currently plays in the WSL for West Ham, described a much more positive experience of pregnancy and returning to football after giving birth.
When talking to BBC Sport, Gorry said:
“It’s the best thing in the world, honestly. To have them (referring to her daughter, Harper) on the sidelines, to be playing for them, it’s just an incredible journey. It doesn’t matter what you do on the football field, they always smile.”
Gorry described always wanting to be able to start a family.
“It was all I thought about and dreamed about. I thought about names every minute. I just knew there was something missing. So I went to an IVF clinic and four weeks later I was pregnant.”
At this point, Gorry was prepared to give up her footballing dream of playing for her home nation, Australia, when they hosted the Women’s World Cup less than two years later.
“For as long as I can remember, I thought I would have to hang up the boots to start a family.”
“The national team were super supportive. They said they would be there if I wanted to return to football. At that time I didn’t – I was pretty happy just giving it up. But when I was pregnant I started watching it more; I started getting more invested. Afterwards I started thinking about getting back to the game.”
Gorry was able to play for Brisbane Roar in 2021, before moving to Swedish club Vittsjo GIK and then moving to West Ham, where she currently plays. She made her return to football only three months after giving birth to her daughter, Harper.
“You can really push your body to a new limit after you’ve gone through the birthing experience, but also the newborn experience and everything after that. It’s challenging and when you don’t think you can get through the day because of exhaustion, you push through to the end and then think ‘I’m incredible, I don’t know how I did it but I did it’. It gives you so many more strengths and I think your football gets even better on the field as well.”
Gorry’s experience highlights the strength of female footballers who return to the game after having a child, as well as how much more support certain clubs have been able to provide in recent years. There is also now a growing number of mothers in the WSL, including Gorry’s West Ham teammate, Dagny Brynjarsdottir.
West Ham released a documentary on Brynjarsdottir’s journey earlier this year, and Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz returned to play for Chelsea in January 2023, only three months after giving birth. This growing number shows that it is completely possible for female footballers to be fully supported during and after pregnancy, and then return to their highest levels after maternity leave.
What does the future look like?
Looking ahead to the future, it is vital that female footballers have access to the levels of support that they need as mothers, no matter what club they play for or which division they play in. It is important that the mistakes of the past are highlighted and negative experiences, such as the experiences of Mukandi and Gunnarsdóttir, are no longer buried, so that in the future, all female footballers can easily access the support that they are entitled to.
Dagny Brynjarsdottir Documentary:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JNjyWS60mhY?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
