- FIFA has announced a series of new protocols to protect female players and coaches during and after pregnancy.
- The protocols include a minimum 14-week paid maternity leave for coaches, an extension from the previous arrangement exclusively for players.
- Family leave is allocated for parents who are not the biological mother, with a minimum duration of 8 weeks.
Newsypeople- Fifa has announced a series of new protocols to protect female players and coaches during and after pregnancy, including in cases of non-biological motherhood.
The changes, unanimously approved by the Fifa council in May 2024, will come into effect on June 1, 2024.
The minimum 14 weeks’ paid maternity leave for players has been extended to coaches. Players and coaches adopting a child will be entitled to eight weeks’ paid absence if the adopted child is younger than two years old, four weeks for a child aged between two and four, and two weeks for a child older than four.
A female player or coach who is not the biological mother will be granted a minimum of eight weeks’ family leave. Players will be entitled to receive full pay while absent due to severe menstruation.
Member associations will also be encouraged to allow female players to have contact with their families while on international duty, an important move for mothers who can be away from their children for as long as six weeks while on World Cup duty.
FIFA announces new maternity and pay protocols for female players and coacheshttps://t.co/2llOpJCWYO
— Football Reporting  (@FootballReportg) May 31, 2024
Clubs can register players outside a registration period to temporarily replace female players who are absent for pregnancy, adoption or family leave, while players returning to soccer for any of those reasons can be registered outside a registration period.
The validity of a contract may not be made subject to a player being or becoming pregnant, being on maternity leave, or exercising her maternity rights, and clubs are prohibited from terminating a contract on those grounds.
Clubs are required to provide suitable facilities for breastfeeding and expressing breast milk in accordance with their applicable national legislation. The amendments are binding at the national level, and member associations are obliged to implement these provisions as a minimum standard, unless more favorable conditions are available pursuant to the application of national law.
Former USA Women’s National Team coach Jill Ellis, who led Fifa’s technical study group at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, said the legislation was a “big step” forward.
“These are big steps and big strides to really normalise the life that we go through as women… that’s what we want to provide now at every level, the club level, the national team level –- the opportunity for pro players to have the chance to be mums,”
she added.
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