The DFB strengthens the rights of mothers and pregnant players in top football.
The adopted regulations follow the requirements of the FIFA regulations and set a global minimum standard that provides greater protection for working conditions, as the association announced on Wednesday (December 18, 2024).
This will supplement the existing protection through national labor law provisions.
Additional payment to player
Football players with children in various countries have been fighting for legal certainty for a long time. In 2023, a FIFA decision made headlines, according to which the French club Olympique Lyon had to pay more than 80,000 euros to his former player Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir.
The club stopped paying the Icelandic international some of her wages after she became aware of her pregnancy. The relevant FIFA chamber decided wrongly.
National team applies rules
At the end of 2020, FIFA set out rules that make it clear that female footballers are entitled to maternity leave for at least 14 weeks at least two-thirds of their contractual salary – and protect women from contract terminations due to pregnancy.
A large part of FIFA’s guidelines have been implemented in the German national team for a long time and there is organizational, financial, physical and mental support, as the DFB announced.
The ex-national players Almuth Schult, Melanie Leupolz and Svenja Huth have taken their offspring with them on international trips in the past.