- Women’s World Cup winner and Olympic champion Crystal Dunn is part of a taskforce that shaped FIFPRO’s recently launched Postpartum Return to Play Guide
- Players with lived experience of managing pregnancy and the ‘return to play’ phase after childbirth contributed to the resource alongside medical experts
- Dunn became a mother for the first time in 2022 and is a strong advocate for maternal rights
Having won multiple titles at club level and all major honours on the international scene, Crystal Dunn certainly knows what it means to be part of a successful team.
A common quality of successful teams? An environment where everyone chips in. It is a mantra that Dunn also applies to motherhood.
"To raise a baby, it takes a village. You can’t do it on your own," Dunn tells FIFPRO. "The most important thing is having that plan in place so that a women’s athlete just comes back and all they have to do is follow step by step and feel safe and protected."
Dunn became a mother for the first time in 2022 and is a strong advocate for maternal rights. She joined a taskforce of mothers who helped FIFPRO launch the Postpartum Return to Play Guide, to help footballers, their entourage and competition regulators better understand and manage the ‘return to play’ phase after pregnancy and the postpartum period.
The guide offers invaluable recommendations for players and aims to change perceptions around pregnancy, postpartum and football.
"I truly believe there is a minimum that should automatically be provided for all moms in the workplace – and that is a nanny. When you're traveling, nannies, accommodation, travel should be paid for," said Dunn.
"For me, it's important that people realise when you are now a mom, your baby is a part of you. Your baby has to be with you. That baby is an extension of you and therefore the nanny is an extension of you. The more that clubs understand this, the easier it is to navigate the space."
Upon listening to players’ pre- and postpartum experiences and analysing existing scientific literature, FIFPRO discovered a lack of readily available advice and knowledge available to players. One of the aims of the Postpartum Return to Play Guide is to begin to fill that void.
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.
Alongside medical experts, the guide was developed by professional women’s players with lived experience of returning to professional football after pregnancy and childbirth, including Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, Cheyna Matthews, Almuth Schult, and Dunn. The resource offers invaluable advice to returning mothers, as well as to players who want to start a family in future.
"Being pregnant and wanting to pursue both a career and family does not stop us from being an athlete," said Dunn.
"I would love for every woman to have the option of pursuing their career and motherhood. I think we deserve that option and I think having those things in place is so important so that you do get to focus on just being a mom and being an athlete in the way that you see fit through your pregnancy."
