Starting a family whilst being an active professional footballer is the focus for this episode of Footballers Unfiltered with Joe Hart. We discuss the rigours and demands of what football brings with training and match day, alongside trying to be the version of yourself for your club and teammates. 

In 2017, FIFPRO issued a global report on employment within football that revealed only 2% percent of female players were mothers and that 47% of women footballers had retired early from the game to start a family.

Joining Joe is Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir. Sara is a two time champions league winner and former Iceland international, who is currently a player at Al Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia. Sara gave us a glimpse into discussions among women footballers at the time. “We women, we speak about family joking around in a way, being like, “Oh, when are you going to have a baby at 40, after your career, or are you going to sacrifice your career?”

In order to stop players retiring early, FIFPRO then created maternity regulations, which were later implemented into the game by FIFA in 2021. 

Sara then made history in 2022 by becoming the first player to win a claim against a club through the FIFA Maternity Regulations. The regulations entitled Sara to full payment throughout her pregnancy and until the start of her maternity leave when at former club Olympique Lyonnais.

Sara’s case demonstrated how important it is to regulate minimums and not leave them to the goodwill of parties, even high-profile football clubs. Sara said “It made it very clear for women today that they don't have to choose [between motherhood and football] and they don't have to sacrifice – and that makes me very happy,”. Joe Hart added “Sara’s story helps create awareness of the protections and help pave the way for others,”

Joining both Sara and Joe is Alexandra Gómez Bruinewoud, the Legal Director at FIFPRO.  Alexandra said “We looked internationally to see if there was any sport that had regulated maternity at international level, and that was not the case,”. Talking candidly, Alexandra tells Joe how she “initiated the discussions with FIFA and other stakeholders, and fought to optimise the protective regulations, to enable women to combine being a parent with their football career.” 

FIFA then incorporated new regulations about working conditions for professional women footballers with an emphasis on maternity rights on 1 June 2024. 

In the same year, FIFPRO launched the Postpartum Return to Play Guide to help professional footballers better understand and manage pregnancy and the phase after childbirth. Sara was part of the taskforce of professional women’s players who developed the guide.

To discover more about FIFPRO and their 60th anniversary, visit:

Follow for more on X: https://x.com/FIFPro?mx=2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fifpro/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FIFPRO/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fifpro/posts/?feedView=all

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FIFProTV/videos
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fifpro 

This is a podcast made by Message Heard for FIFPRO.

Host: Joe Hart

Executive Producer: Sandra Ferrari

Producer: Mark Kendrick

Production Coordinator: Kirsty McLean 

Videographer and editor: Ethan Judd

Audio and Mix Engineer: Lizzy Andrews