Football, Pregnancy and Fair Play

Starting a family is one of the most ordinary, life-changing moments any person can experience. Yet for a very long time in elite sport, pregnancy was treated less like a normal stage of life and more like an inconvenience - and even a reason to end an athlete's career.

Female athletes were all too often forced to choose between competing at the highest level or stepping away from sport altogether to become mothers. Fortunately, that old mindset is beginning to break down.

A legal ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has drawn a clear line in the sand, sending a message to sports organisations worldwide: supporting athletes through normal life events is not charity - it is a workplace right.

The ruling centres on Swedish defender Maja Gothberg and her former club, Lazio Women. After helping the team secure promotion to Italy's top flight during the 2023/24 season, Gothberg and the club began talks over a contract extension for the upcoming year.

After conversations (detailed and evidenced in court) including an agreed logistical plan for her return - both Gothberg and Lazio agreed key terms to a new deal, even though the final document had not yet been formally signed on paper.

Before putting pen to paper, Gothberg discovered she was pregnant. Although she was under no legal obligation to declare it before finalising her contract, she chose to inform the club out of honesty and openness.

Lazio pulled back, claiming no contract existed and pointing to her absence from pre-season travel - which was due to early pregnancy symptoms including nausea and fatigue - as well as talks with rival club Parma. (And, making matters worse, an assistant coach disclosed her pregnancy to her team mates without her consent!)

Gothberg initially faced a setback at FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber, but she took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and CAS ruled entirely in her favour, awarding her over €69,000 in compensation.

This U-turn has alerted football administrators and shows that traditional governing bodies can and will be held legally accountable when they allow clubs to side-step statutory maternity protections.

The sum covered her full year’s salary, interest, and moral damages for breach of privacy and the ruling builds on the earlier landmark case of Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir (Icelandic pro-footballer) which established that pregnant players are entitled to full pay and confirmed that Clubs cannot just walk away from their employment responsibilities to avoid their statutory obligations.

The decision establishes several crucial legal principles:

• Rights do not disappear when paperwork is pending. When terms are agreed and parties act in good faith, a protected employment relationship does exist.

• Once a player shows that a contractual agreement is in place and it is subsequently broken after disclosing a pregnancy, the Club must prove its decision was entirely unrelated to the pregnancy. Lazio failed to do so.

• Pregnancy status is confidential medical data. Clubs have a legal responsibility to protect this information, regardless of whether a player has explicitly asked for secrecy or not.

• FIFA's updated Maternity Regulations are not just words on paper they provide enforceable protections in real-world disputes.

In response to the judgment, Lazio Women issued an official statement acknowledging the award while stressing that the case involved ‘exceptional and highly specific’ circumstances.

The Club highlighted that CAS did not impose sporting sanctions, noting that the panel accepted the Club had acted on a genuinely held legal interpretation rather than out of bad faith. (They also pointed to the fact that communications had occurred through agents rather than direct contact with the player!)

This ruling carries significant lessons for professional sport in England. On the surface, English women's football has made commendable progress. In 2022, The Football Association (FA) and the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) introduced a standard maternity policy across the Women's Super League (WSL) and Women's Championship, offering 14 weeks of fully paid maternity leave without requiring a minimum period of service. Yet, it’s fair to say, practical challenges remain as many athletes in England still operate on short-term contracts lasting only one or two years.

While English regulations protect players from being dismissed due to pregnancy, automatic contract renewals are not currently guaranteed if a deal expires during pregnancy. The Gothberg ruling highlights that English clubs must be very careful when handling contract extensions or unwritten agreements near the end of a deal, as abandoning talks after learning of a pregnancy clearly creates legal liability.

Remember:

• Agreements reached over messaging or email can create protected rights before official paperwork is signed.

• Medical data is strictly confidential and details must never be leaked to team members or staff.

• Sports like rugby, cricket, and athletics are learning that supporting female athletes through pregnancy builds stronger, fairer, and robust sporting institutions.