Postpartum Guide
This guide is ‘so important to try to ease the pressure on players’, says midfielder Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir
FIFPRO has launched a 48-page guide to help professional footballers, as well as their families, team staff and other football stakeholders, better understand and manage pregnancy and the phase after childbirth.
The Postpartum Return to Play Guide was developed by a taskforce of professional women’s players who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth during their career. They include Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, Crystal Dunn, Cheyna Matthews and Almuth Schult. The full guide can be downloaded HERE.
The players’ experiences have been supported by existing scientific literature and a medical expert group comprised of Dr Pippa Bennett, Rosalyn Cooke, Prof Kirsty Elliot-Sale, Prof Dr Vincent Gouttebarge and Dr Rita Tomas, all of whom specialise in areas that are most relevant to the postpartum journey.
The FIFA Maternity Regulations, which were introduced in January 2021 after pressure from FIFPRO, have been in place to protect the rights of players who become pregnant during their careers.
While players worldwide are entitled to these maternity protections, many say guidance is needed for both them and the clubs and national teams working with them on how to best manage pregnancy before taking maternity leave (prepartum), what to expect after childbirth (postpartum), and how to best prepare for their return to football.
“For such a varied and complex subject matter, there is very little accessible guidance for players to follow – an issue that we hope this guide can begin to remedy,” said Dr Alex Culvin, FIFPRO Director of Policy and Strategic Relations for Women’s Football.
“For most professional players, their prime performance years will overlap significantly with their peak window of fertility. As a result, players will continue to seek to start a family during their playing careers with the desire to then return to their work.”
Postpartum Return to Play Guide
FIFPRO has launched a 48-page guide to help professional footballers, as well as their families, team staff and other football stakeholders, better understand and manage pregnancy and the phase after childbirth.
After listening to players’ prepartum and postpartum experiences and reviewing scientific literature, FIFPRO discovered a lack of readily available advice and knowledge within professional football.
“Starting a family is a significant milestone in a player’s life, and one that should be celebrated and supported, but many players have felt that this has not been the case for them,” Dr Culvin added.
“Many are returning to elite football stronger, despite a significant lack of standardised guidance, regulation and support, and amid pressure on them to manage their own return to play. By putting players at the heart of a holistic framework combining information and regulation, this guide can be a valuable resource for our rapidly growing industry.”
Maternity Regulations
FIFPRO’s Senior Legal Counsel Alexandra Gomez Bruinewoud has produced an informative article that gives great detail and creates debate and discussion amongst those leading Women’s Football.
You can download the full document via the link below the article
2025 FIFPRO Women’s Player Summit
FIFPRO – Project ACL
Information on the work that FIFPRO are conducting around ACL injuries in the Womens game.
The first-of-its-kind research has been co-designed by and for professional players to simultaneously develop minimum standards and best-practice guidance on working conditions in professional women’s football. Read here