Spanish football federation has unveiled an agreement to support fertility treatment for female players and referees, describing the initiative as another step towards giving women in elite football greater freedom to decide if and when to become mothers.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation, RFEF, announced on Tuesday that its agreement with the Tambre clinic would allow sportswomen to access treatments including in vitro fertilization, IVF, and egg freezing. The federation described the agreement as a pioneering initiative for women’s sport in Spain.
Spanish internationals Olga Carmona and Patri Guijarro attended the announcement and welcomed the deal, saying it would give female players more options as they balance the demands of professional sport with their personal lives.
“We are very happy to have reached this agreement, to have one more option to decide how and when to choose to become a mother,” Carmona said.
Guijarro said the initiative was part of a broader effort to improve work-life balance for female athletes and ensure that motherhood does not become a barrier to a career in elite sport.
“Ultimately, it’s a very positive agreement because it’s true that for all these years we’ve been fighting to achieve a better work-life balance for mothers,” she said.
“In the case of being able to have a career whilst being a mother, work-life balance measures are now being put in place; we feel we’ve been listened to. It’s important that female athletes feel they don’t have to choose between their professional and personal lives.”
Reyes Bellver Alonso, director of women’s football at the RFEF, said the federation would cover the full cost of egg-freezing treatment and provide a range of benefits linked to other treatments.
She said the support would be available to all international players who had been called up at least twice, with the agreement with Tambre running until 2029.
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“The debate on motherhood and work-life balance is a vast one, and it is good that these issues are being discussed because it always helps to raise their profile in other areas,” Bellver Alonso said.
She said football had made significant progress in protecting players’ rights, contracts and pregnancy safeguards, including the elimination of anti-pregnancy clauses.
“If there is one area where work has been done on maternity rights, the protection of women, the protection of contracts and work-life balance in women’s sport, it is football,” she said.
“I think that we often focus on the criticism and fail to convey how beneficial and pioneering these developments are, and the struggles the players have also gone through.”
The RFEF stressed that the agreement was not intended to discourage footballers from having children while they remain active players.
Instead, it said the initiative was designed to provide another option for women who may otherwise feel compelled to delay or rule out motherhood because of their sporting careers.
The federation said the initiative complements existing work-life balance measures, including support that enables players who have become mothers to have their children nearby during away trips, training camps and tournaments.
However, the announcement has sparked debate among labor and equality organizations in Spain, with some arguing that fertility support should not replace stronger workplace protections for mothers.
Olympic bronze medalist and triple jumper Ana Peleteiro described the measure as “deeply sexist” in a video posted on social media.
The CCOO trade union also said the focus should remain on improving work-life balance and protecting athletes during pregnancy and competition.
Al Jazeera
