Una football team announces with a press release, Not a purchase or a victory, but a pregnancyit is a very strong message these days too. Milan Women, the Rossoneri women’s team, who did it, who He made the news public that their footballer Noemi Fedele is pregnant. The good news was accompanied by an equally beautiful one: that is, that immediately, a protection policy thought for her for this moment on a woman’s life. A gesture that goes beyond football. A signal that says: motherhood is not a pause, it is part of the path, whatever it is.
Noemi Fedele pregnant: Milan and the policy for its protection
The protection policy is not an abstract manifesto, but a very concrete regulation. Milan, in fact, decided that, if A footballer is pregnant right in the year in which the contract expires, It will not be left alone in front of a white sheet: iThe renewal is automatic, for another season. It is enormous protection, because it free the players from that real fear that scares women in general: “What if I lose their place?”. It does not end here. During pregnancy, athletes continue to perceive the salary And they have the certainty of being able to return to the field when they are ready. A guarantee that adds to the guidelines already introduced by FIFA and the AIC, the Italian players’ association, but which becomes a pillar of the club here.
A kick to prejudices
Then there is an attention that goes beyond football played. Milan, for example, undertakes to support mothers in the care of children: During training and trips, the company offers practical support and takes charge of travel and accommodation expenses for the child and for a companion. A detail that makes all the differencebecause it makes it possible to reconcile the tight rhythm of sporting life with the daily needs of a newborn. In the end, The club makes an expert team availablepsychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, to accompany the footballers in this delicate passage. In other words, Milan tells its players: motherhood does not interrupt a career, accompanies it.
Noemi Fedele, Milan Women’s goalkeeper, announces his pregnancy. The Rossoneri club guarantees the automatic renewal of the contract for pregnant players (Getty)
In Italy a unique case (for now)
In Italy, Milan is a unique case at the moment. Fiorentina and Parma have shown interest in the well -being of their athletes, but they have not adopted specific policies and officers in the field of maternity similar to those of Milan. Internationally, however, the Rossoneri club is not an isolated case. In recent years, other football realities have also started to move towards greater protection of mothers.
What happens in the rest of the world
In England, for example, the Football Association has introduced a system for 2022 that guarantees the Women’s Super League players 100% of the salary for the first 14 weeks of maternitywithout the need for contractual seniority. An important step, although it does not reach the automatic renewal provided for by Milan. Fifa itself has strengthened its guid linesA, imposing minimum standards: paid leave, place protection and right to return. In Norway, in ToppSerien, there is a discussion of an idea very close to that of Milan. However, nowhere, however, it has come to such advanced measures: Often the footballers remain margins of uncertainty and little clarity on their rights.
Fedele Noemi: not only a symbol, but concrete life
Precisely for this reason, the choice of the Rossoneri club has a huge and non -symbolic value. Not only does it protect its athletes, but raises the bar for all European women’s footballmaking it difficult from now on for other companies ignore the theme. The regulation, in fact, is now a real case, not a sheet signed in the office, but a protection network that allows you to live motherhood without the fear of being left at home.
A watershed for all women’s football
The biggest value, however, is that this policy does not only concern Milan. It is a signal for everyone. Female football in Italy has become officially professional only in 2022an epochal step, but not enough. Concrete tools were still missing to face motherhood. Now Milan opens the way: the other companies, large or small, will no longer be able to pretend anything. Because, if we really want to talk about equal opportunities, Perhaps the most difficult game of women’s football is not played on the green rectangle, but against prejudices. Milan decided to take the field and, this time, its victory is worth much more than three points.