
- FIFPRO last month launched return to play guide for footballers coming back after childbirth
- The guide was developed by a taskforce of professional women’s players who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth during their career
- Two-time World Cup veteran Cheyna Matthews was one of the players involved in the taskforce
Cheyna Matthews admits she was "scared and nervous" while also feeling like she had no direction during her first pregnancy, but it didn’t stop the Jamaica international returning to play in her first World Cup in 2019. That was five years ago; Matthews now has three children, as well as a second World Cup tournament to her name.
After announcing her retirement towards the end of 2023, shortly before her 30th birthday, Matthews became involved in a FIFPRO taskforce of women’s players that helped develop the recently launched Postpartum Return to Play Guide alongside medical experts.
"I was excited to join this project because it’s an initiative I didn’t have in my first pregnancy. I remember being so scared and nervous, and having no direction on what would be provided for me as a mom," Matthews recalls to FIFPRO. "To have this specifically for women returning to play after birth is so important and I think it’s the next steps in women’s sports."

FIFPRO discovered a lack of readily available advice and knowledge within the footballing landscape after listening to players’ pre- and postpartum experiences and analysing existing scientific literature.
The Postpartum Return to Play guide is designed to help footballers, as well as their family, team staff and other football stakeholders, better understand and manage pregnancy and the ‘return to play’ phase after childbirth.
The resource was developed by professional women’s players with lived experience of returning to professional football after pregnancy and childbirth, including Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, Crystal Dunn, Almuth Schult, and Matthews.
"One thing I learned from talking to the other women in this initiative was that we all want the same things: we all want to feel respected in our field and we all want for our clubs to have a blueprint as to what they expect of themselves in helping us get back to play, and also what they expect of us," said Matthews.
"I remember my first pregnancy – even my second pregnancy – I was employed by professional teams and it just seemed like there wasn't a return to play. The resources are not there in the women's game right now. They are kind of like, ‘Hey, you're pregnant, do what you need to do’. Maybe you come back, maybe you don't. I just don't think that's acceptable."
Postpartum Return to Play Guide
FIFPRO has launched a 48-page guide to help professional footballers, as well as their families, team staff and other football stakeholders, better understand and manage pregnancy and the phase after childbirth.

A resource for clubs and national teams
Up until now, players have had to navigate returning to play after childbirth without standardised guidance, regulation and support, which has put pressure on players to manage their own return to play phase.
The Postpartum Return to Play guide aims to act as a resource for clubs and national teams, while also putting the players at the heart of a more holistic framework. It addresses multiple aspects – from wellbeing to legal rights – and is shaped by the players who have experienced the journey themselves.
Matthews said: "The more comfortable players are expressing how they're feeling or what they're feeling, that's a vital piece of communication in anyone moving forward in anything. Part of that communication is listening to the players, listening to the people that are having this unique experience in childbirth and all the changes that come with it.
"To have a blueprint and a guideline for teams to refer to when someone comes to them and says that they're expecting, I think it would prepare athletes more for childbirth and the return to play, but also motivate them because you still have that desire as competitors to feel wanted, to feel important, to feel needed.
"In the next couple of years, we will see more moms in women's sports."