Motherhood and football: The regulatory framework of FIFA RSTP

1. Protection of female players and coaches

Promoting and supporting women’s participation in football requires more than encouragement, it demands systems that make long-term careers viable. FIFA has implemented special regulatory framework for the protection of female players and coaches on the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). The FIFA framework establishes a baseline of minimum standards that all national regulations must follow, while allowing room for stronger protection at domestic level. Where collective bargaining agreements are in place, their provisions prevail, and in their absence, any more favorable national laws take priority. Ultimately, all applicable protections must be clearly integrated into national regulations to ensure consistent and effective implementation [article 1 par. 3(a) FIFA RSTP].

2. Maternity protection for women football players and coaches according to FIFA RSTP

According to FIFA RSTP, female players and coaches are entitled to maternity, adoption and family leave during the term of their contract with an entitlement to remuneration equal to two thirds of their contracted salary (article 18 par. 7 FIFA RSTP). The maternity leave includes a 14-week period paid absence, of which a minimum of eight weeks must occur after the birth of the child. In case of adoption or family leave, the absence granted varies between 2 and 8 weeks depending on the child’s age (definitions section of FIFA RSTP nr. 30, 42 and 43).

Regarding contractual stability, the validity of a contract with a female player or coach shall not depend on pregnancy tests or their results, nor on whether she is pregnant or becomes pregnant, or on her taking maternity, adoption or family leave. Clubs should not terminate a contract on the grounds of refusing to undergo a pregnancy test, pregnancy, or the exercise of any leave entitlements. If a club terminates a contract on any of these grounds, such termination shall be presumed to be without just cause, and the player or coach shall be entitled to compensation while the club shall be subject to sporting sanctions and a possible fine (article 18quater par. 1, 2, 3 FIFA RSTP).

As a general principle, a player has the right to decide to continue providing sporting services to the club, in which case the club is obliged to support and accommodate that decision. Where a player does not feel safe to participate in training or matches, the club must offer suitable alternative work. If the player is unable to perform either sporting or alternative duties for health-related reasons, she is entitled to medical leave upon presentation of a valid medical certificate. The player shall be entitled to receive her full remuneration, until such time that she utilizes maternity leave (article 18quater par. 4 FIFA RSTP, FIFA DRC decision of 19 May 2022, Gunnarsdóttir, par. 190-193).

The player has the right to freely determine the start date of her maternity, adoption or family leave, within the minimum periods provided, and any club that compels her to take leave at a specific time is subject to sanctions. After completing her leave, she may return to football activity, entitled to full remuneration and the club is obliged to reintegrate her, agree on a postpartum plan and provide ongoing medical support and provide suitable facilities for breastfeeding/expressing milk (article 18quater par. 5, 6 FIFA RSTP).

To ensure the uninterrupted sporting continuity of women’s teams and to prevent any form of discrimination against pregnant female players, as well as the de facto prohibition of maternity leave by the clubs, FIFA allows the clubs to register a female player outside of a registration period if she is replacing another player who is on maternity, adoption or family leave and upon return to the team, the player can also be registered outside of the registration periods [article 6 par. 3 (c) and (d) FIFA RSTP].

3. Implementation of FIFA maternity standards in Greece

The Hellenic Football Federation has implemented article 20 of its RSTP, which provides for the application of articles 18(7) and 18quater of the FIFA RSTP. However, its broad and imprecise wording may give rise to interpretative ambiguity and hinder effective negotiations between players and clubs. In Greece, women’s competitions are classified as amateur under national sports law, and female players are generally treated as amateurs irrespective of their actual employment relationship with their club. To determine whether such players may benefit from employment-related protections, it is necessary to assess the factual nature of the relationship on a substance-over-form basis.

FIFA’s approach in assessing player status is clear: decisive weight is given to the objective criteria set out in article 2 of the RSTP, rather than to the formal characterization adopted by the parties. Accordingly, when a player receives remuneration under a written agreement (even if not formally labelled as an employment contract) and earns more than she spends, she qualifies as a professional player (article 2 FIFA RSTP, FIFA Commentary on RSTP p. 28-29, FIFA DRC decision of 22 November 2019, Williams, par. 11-14, FIFPRO https://media.fifpro.org/media/k2bdmt23/fifpro-maternity-regulations-english.pdf). In such circumstances, the player is entitled to the full range of applicable employment-related protections. This approach is consistent with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice on the determination of employment status.

Ultimately, the formal classification of female players as amateurs cannot override the protective framework established by FIFA. Where the factual elements of a professional relationship are present, players remain entitled to the full scope of the FIFA RSTP protections, irrespective of how the contract is labelled.