Soccer-Spanish FA launches fertility support programme for female players and referees

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ciudad del Futbol, Las Rozas, Spain - December 16, 2024 General view outside the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo

MADRID, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Spain's football federation ⁠has unveiled an agreement to support fertility treatment for female players and referees, presenting the measure as another way to give ⁠women in elite football greater freedom to decide if and when to become mothers.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said ‌on Tuesday its agreement with the Tambre clinic would allow sportswomen to access treatments including in vitro fertilisation and egg freezing,in what the federation called a pioneering step for women's sport in the country.

Spain internationals Olga Carmona and Patri Guijarro attended the announcement and welcomed the deal as an important tool for players managing the demands of professional ​sport and personal life.

"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 measure formed part of a broader push to improve work-life balance for female athletes ⁠and ‌ensure 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," Guijarro 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."

According to ⁠Reyes Bellver Alonso, director ​of women's football at the RFEF, the federation will cover the full cost of egg-freezing treatment and provide a range of benefits linked to different treatments for all international players who have been called up at least twice. The deal with Tambre will be in place until 2029.

"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.

SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS

She said football had made significant progress in protecting players' rights, contracts and pregnancy safeguards, including eliminating 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 said the agreement was not designed to discourage footballers from having children while they are active, but to offer another option so they do not ​have to rule out motherhood because of their sporting career.

It said the initiative complements existing work-life balance ⁠measures, including support that allows players who have become mothers to have their children close by during away trips, training camps and tournaments.

The announcement ​has also prompted debate among labour and equality organisations in Spain, with some warning that ‌fertility support should not replace stronger workplace protections for mothers.

Olympic bronze medallist ​and triple jumper Ana Peleteiro described the measure as "deeply sexist" in a video posted on social media, while the CCOO trade union said the focus should remain on work-life balance and protecting pregnancy during competition.

(Reporting by Fernando KallasEditing by Toby Davis)

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资料照片：足球 - 西班牙拉斯罗萨斯足球城 - 2024年12月16日 西班牙足球联合会总部外景 路透社/伊莎贝尔·因凡特斯/资料照片

马德里，9 月 8 日（路透社）——西班牙足球联合会公布了一项协议，旨在支持女球员和裁判接受生育治疗。该联合会表示，此举是让“精英足球界的女性拥有更大自由，决定是否以及何时成为母亲”的又一途径。

西班牙皇家足球协会（RFEF）周二表示，与坦布雷诊所达成的协议将允许女运动员接受包括体外受精和冷冻卵子在内的治疗，该协会称这是该国女子体育运动的开创性一步。

西班牙国脚奥尔加·卡莫纳和帕特里·吉哈罗出席了发布会，并对该协议表示欢迎，认为这是球员平衡职业体育和个人生活需求的重要工具。

卡莫纳说：“我们非常高兴达成这项协议，这样我们就多了一种选择，可以决定如何以及何时选择成为母亲。”

Guijarro表示，这项措施是旨在改善女运动员工作与生活平衡的更广泛努力的一部分，并确保生育不会成为她们在精英体育领域发展事业的障碍。

“从长远来看，这是一项非常积极的协议，因为多年来我们一直在努力为母亲们争取更好的工作与生活平衡，”吉哈罗说。

“就兼顾事业和母亲角色而言，目前正在实施工作与生活平衡措施；我们感到我们的意见得到了重视。重要的是，女性运动员要觉得她们不必在职业生涯和个人生活之间做出选择。”

据西班牙皇家足球协会（RFEF）女子足球总监雷耶斯·贝尔韦尔·阿隆索透露，该协会将承担所有至少两次入选国家队的球员的冷冻卵子治疗费用，并提供一系列与不同治疗相关的福利。与坦布雷的合作协议将持续到2029年。

贝尔弗·阿隆索表示：“关于母职和工作生活平衡的讨论非常广泛，这些问题得到讨论是件好事，因为这总有助于提高它们在其他领域的关注度。”

显著进展

她表示，足球在保护球员权利、合同和怀孕保障方面取得了重大进展，包括取消了反怀孕条款。

“如果说在女子体育运动中，哪个领域在孕产妇权利、妇女保护、合同保护和工作与生活平衡方面取得了显著进展，那就是足球，”她说。

“我认为我们常常只关注批评，而忽略了这些发展带来的益处和开创性意义，以及球员们所经历的种种困难。”

西班牙皇家足球协会表示，该协议并非旨在阻止足球运动员在职业生涯期间生育子女，而是为了提供另一种选择，使她们不必因为自己的运动生涯而放弃为人母的权利。

该机构表示，这项举措是对现有工作与生活平衡措施的补充，包括为已成为母亲的球员提供支持，允许她们的孩子在客场比赛、训练营和比赛期间待在身边。

该声明也引发了西班牙劳工和平等组织之间的辩论，一些组织警告说，生育支持不应取代对母亲更强有力的工作场所保护。

奥运会铜牌得主、三级跳远运动员安娜·佩莱泰罗在社交媒体上发布的一段视频中称该措施“带有严重的性别歧视”，而CCOO工会则表示，重点应该仍然是工作与生活的平衡以及在比赛期间保护孕妇。

（费尔南多·卡拉斯报道，托比·戴维斯编辑）

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