Very encouraging news from FIFA to help women's football in its unstoppable growth. The highest body in world football announced on Thursday its decision to strengthen the protection of female soccer players with several measures, among which the mandatory maternity leave for 14 weeks stands out.
This is a great step forward. Proposals must be ratified by its Council next December.
Through a statement, FIFA explained that the Football Stakeholders Committee “has endorsed two sets of far-reaching reforms, which will serve to offer even more protection to both female soccer players and coaches.”
Thus, the new proposed rules would include a “mandatory maternity leave of a minimum of 14 weeks”, in which “at least two-thirds of the salary established in the player's contract will be maintained.”
Upon their return to work, the clubs should facilitate the reintegration of the players and provide medical and physical support. Furthermore, no player should feel harmed by the fact of becoming pregnant, FIFA stressed.
The recent image of Alex Morgan, world star who this year has signed for him Tottenham, training in the English team and posing with her baby in her arms in the field has gone around the world and has highlighted the need to regulate motherhood in this sport. The image was highly applauded by all the followers as they understood that the soccer player wanted to normalize the situation, which in recent years has been peppered with some controversy.
Alex Morgan, in training while pregnant
The President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, yesterday appreciated that “women's football is now reaching a new stage in its development” after the “unprecedented” success of the 2019 World Cup in France.
“The logical step was to adopt an appropriate regulatory framework adjusted to the needs of women's football,” he valued.
The Football Stakeholders Commission also approved new rules for the protection of coaches, understanding that they play a “vital” role in the game, but historically they have been outside the regulatory framework.
“We must compensate for this lack and give them the prominence they deserve,” Infantino said.