World football governing body, FIFA says it plans to introduce a series of measures to protect pregnant footballers including mandatory maternity leave “of at least 14 weeks”
Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s chief women’s football officer, explained this to journalists.
The body said it would put a series of reforms forward for approval by the FIFA Council next month, making them immediately applicable across all of its 211 member federations.
The mandatory 14-week maternity leave would see players guaranteed a minimum two-thirds of their contracted salary, while FIFA indicated a wish to make it harder for clubs to part company with pregnant players, saying “no female player should ever suffer a disadvantage as a result of becoming pregnant”
Under the proposals, if a player is laid off after becoming pregnant, clubs responsible face financial as well as “sporting” punishments.
Clubs must also reintegrate female players and provide “adequate medical and physical support” after they have given birth.