“Serving the country against the biological clock”: Spain funds egg freezing for female soccer players; What does that mean? | News off the field
The Spanish Football Federation is preparing to pay for egg freezing operations for leading female soccer players, in a move aimed at helping female players achieve a balance between motherhood and professional life at the highest levels.According to a report by El Pais newspaper, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is finalizing an agreement with a fertility clinic that will allow members of the Spanish women’s national team to undergo egg vitrification. The agreement is expected to be announced later this month, while discussions continue over the exact terms and costs.The move comes as more female athletes face the challenge of fitting pregnancy into long sporting careers. A football career can last into a player’s 30s, but pregnancy often means several months away from training and competition, and it can be difficult to return to the highest level.
The players raised the issue with the federation
Former Spain national team captain Alexia Putellas said that the team leaders discussed the issue with the federation and welcomed the proposal.“The federation realizes that you are serving your country against your biological clock, that you cannot stop and you cannot be a mother because you need your body to function,” El Pais newspaper quoted Botelas as saying.“The group of leaders were concerned because it is very important for a player to have a World Cup experience, but it means that those of us who want to be mothers do not find it easy to cope with.”The consortium has not yet confirmed whether it will cover the full treatment, or only the egg preservation procedure, or also the egg retrieval procedure.
What does egg freezing mean for elite athletes?
Eva Ferrer, a specialist in sports medicine, said that egg freezing has become a topic of discussion in women’s football only over the past two years.She explained that there is still limited research on how ovarian stimulation affects athletes. “There are not enough studies on how to treat it [ovarian stimulation] “It can affect, for example, the joints or soft tissues,” Ferrer said, quoted by El Pais newspaper.She added that training may need to be modified during treatment to reduce the risk of injury. She also said that drugs used during the procedure should be declared with a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) so that athletes do not face anti-doping issues.Treatment usually lasts about two weeks. During that period, the athlete injects a hormonal medication to stimulate the ovaries so that multiple eggs mature instead of one. Doctors then extract the eggs through a procedure performed under anesthesia.After this procedure, female athletes may experience bleeding, discomfort, swelling, fluid retention, migraines, and low energy levels while the ovaries heal. Clinics generally recommend collecting about 10 eggs, although the process can be repeated if necessary.Gynecologist Rebecca Bigeria said that elite athletes do not return to their peak physical condition immediately after treatment.“The medical protocol states that normal life can be resumed, but for a high-performance athlete, these are the days when your performance is not at the same level: you will not run at the same speed or with the same intensity,” she told El Pais newspaper.She added that players face a greater risk of injury and abdominal damage during recovery.“Your body’s blood is redistributed, it’s concentrated there, the abdomen and chest are more distended, and there’s a tendency to migraines and fluid retention.”Pigueria also noted that although egg freezing helps players delay pregnancy, it does not eliminate the medical risks associated with becoming pregnant at an older age.“Medically, the recommendation is for women to get pregnant as soon as possible, because we are biologically designed to be mothers at the age of 35 at the latest, and we have extended that.”
There are no clear rules yet in women’s football
The motion also highlighted the lack of regulations on fertility treatment in professional women’s football.Lawyer Tania Tejera wrote in an op-ed for Palco23 that neither FIFA nor UEFA currently has a specific protocol covering treatments such as egg freezing or other assisted reproductive technologies, although more female players are choosing these options.At present, the main international guidelines come from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which requires that drugs used during fertility treatment be reviewed and, where necessary, approved through a therapeutic use exemption.
