Footballers face tough choice between career and motherhood sparks egg freezing debate

Balancing motherhood and work is a challenge in any profession. But for footballers, whose peak sporting years coincide with their peak fertility, the choice can feel stark.

"For a woman whose sports career might last, say, 10 years at a high level, she starts thinking that getting pregnant really isn't an option," former Real Sociedad player, Larraitz Lucas, told DW. "When you are competing at a high level, all you are focusing on is the present."

Until the last few years, only about 2% of footballers got pregnant during their careers, with many leaving the sport to pursue motherhood. But with increasing professionalization, organizations are starting to wrestle with the question of how to deal with players who want to have children.

Binding maternity regulations were introduced to the sport only in 2021 and strengthened in 2024. But for those who wish to postpone their pregnancy while playing, the issue of freezing eggs as a fertility treatment has come to the fore.

US club, Racing Louisville, were the first club side to offer to pay for such treatments in 2021, while English club Chelsea have announced this month that egg freezing will be funded for any player that wants it.

But, perhaps more significantly, the Spanish football federation, RFEF, are expected to become the first national federation to announce a similar policy soon after reported lobbying from star player Alexia Putellas and others.

Playing during egg extraction a tough ask

Such options weren't available to Spaniard Lucas in her playing career, which ended more than a decade ago. While she went through egg retrieval, in her case it was so her partner could have an embryo implanted to carry the baby.

"You keep competing as best you can but no matter how much you try to align it with a weekend break from matches it's tough. Really, before, during, and after the egg extraction, well... it wasn't ideal," said Lucas.

Though it depends somewhat on circumstances, egg freezing can take around three weeks. Women inject themselves every day before their eggs are harvested and frozen under sedation. To use the eggs at a later date, they must be thawed and injected with sperm to create embryos.

But, as athlete gynaecologist, Lamia Zafrani, told DW, egg freezing is far from straightforward. "Egg freezing is not an insurance policy that is guaranteed to pay out. It's always better if you freeze your eggs whilst you're young because you've got younger eggs to then use for future IVF.

"But actually there's no guarantee that when you defrost or thaw those eggs, turn them into embryos, that they'll actually be successful and result in a successful live birth. And I think it's these conversations that the athletes need to be made aware of because, at the end of the day, it's all about informed consent."

Egg freezing 'shouldn't be tool to pressure players'

Zafrani added that the number of athletes in her London clinic asking about the procedure has risen sharply in recent times. "It is definitely something that athletes are very much asking for," she said.

"But there's always nuance to all of these conversations. While it's great because the federations are listening to the players, ethically, it always does bring up the question of whether by offering egg freezing and fertility preservation, the underlying message is that you're telling your players 'don't get pregnant whilst you're working for us.' And that can be problematic."

It's a concern that is shared by Alexandra Gómez Bruinewoud. The legal director of global players' union, FIFPRO, was a co-author of the maternity policies adopted by football's global governing body, FIFA. She said FIFPRO have been working on policies for assisted reproduction, including the freezing of eggs, but that ensuring players were educated about their choices was paramount.

"We don't want it [egg freezing] to be used as a tool to pressure players not to become pregnant while they are playing because they are and they should always be fully entitled to decide when and how to become pregnant," Bruinewoud told DW.

There are, she said, several other considerations with regards to fertility and football, including doping concerns.

"When players go through assistive reproduction in general and if they are going to freeze eggs, in some situations they have to take hormones. And these substances can be prohibited in the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) code.

"So we want to be sure to prevent a player being sanctioned when they are actually only trying to become pregnant or prepare things to be able to become pregnant in the future," said Bruinewoud.

Universal solution difficult to find

She added that with costs, recovery and procedures varying, mandating one blanket global rule would be near impossible, and should be guided by medical practitioners. It is also tough to apply any universal standard to a sport where professionalization and finance varies significantly between countries.

"In my view, the best solution for that is collective negotiation at national level," Bruinewoud said. "These are very expensive procedures and most of the players worldwide will probably not have access to this because of the cost."

For all three women, the most important factors are choice, education and empowerment to get pregnant at a time that suits them. The hope is that, if managed well, egg freezing provides another option, rather than the default path.

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