“Baby coming” was the message shared by USWNT’s Kristie Mewis and Australia captain Sam Kerr on Instagram on Monday morning, accompanied by black-and-white images of Mewis’ swollen stomach and an ultrasound scan.
West Ham midfielder Mewis and Chelsea forward Kerr have spoken of their desire to normalise “being two girls in love”, and after three years together and following their engagement last November, they are preparing to welcome a baby next year.
The couple’s news has been met with messages of congratulations from team-mates and fans. It has also been met with questions.
For years, the consensus among players was that having a child would mark the “end of a career”. But recent initiatives and regulations implemented at club and international level were designed to make motherhood and elite sport more compatible.
The Athletic explains…
Why have Kerr and Mewis not been playing recently?
Mewis joined West Ham in December 2023, one month after news of her engagement to partner Kerr. But her time in east London has not gone smoothly. A tendon issue in March and a calf injury in October has limited the USA international to just four appearances. She has featured once in the Women’s Super League this season, making a substitute appearance in West Ham’s defeat to Manchester United on September 21.
Kerr, too, has been hampered by injury for the past 11 months. The two-time WSL Golden Boot winner ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in January while on a warm-weather training camp in Morocco before the restart of the domestic season. Matildas’ interim coach Tom Sermanni confirmed last week she is unlikely to return to competitive football until after the new year.
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What provisions are in place for pregnant footballers in the WSL?
Pregnancies are not new in the WSL. West Ham midfielder Dagny Brynjarsdottir, Arsenal defender Amanda Ilestedt and Manchester United defender Hannah Blundell all announced pregnancies in the past 12 months. Players such as Everton forward Toni Duggan and former Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz have also returned to play in the WSL after giving birth in recent seasons.
However, before the start of the 2022-23 season, there was no FA directive on maternity rights for players, and players who did return to play after giving birth were rare. Previously, clubs dealt with pregnancies on an individual basis.
New regulations, agreed in January 2022 between the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), guaranteed players would receive 100 per cent of their weekly wage, plus any other benefits and remuneration, for the first 14 weeks of maternity leave. Players are also entitled to maternity pay regardless of how long they have been employed by their club. Previously, only players who were employed by their club from a minimum of 26 weeks would have qualified. Clubs have also made efforts to ensure their medical teams remain in close contact with the player where required.
Chelsea have historically been a trailblazer in this landscape. Leupolz, who announced her pregnancy in March 2022, has praised Chelsea for the support provided, including the club hiring a pelvic floor specialist and keeping her involved in training sessions and club events.
Mewis’ team-mate Brynjarsdottir has two boys, born in 2018 and 2024. Following the birth of her second son, Andreas, in February 2024, West Ham renewed her contract and allowed Brynjarsdottir to bring her son to the training ground to breastfeed between gym and football sessions. He was also part of the club’s pre-season tour of Australia in the summer.
What is Mewis’ contract situation and how will this affect it?
Mewis’ contract with West Ham United expires in June 2025.
There are currently no international or domestic regulations obligating a club to extend a contract upon the announcement of a pregnancy.
New maternity regulations introduced by FIFA on 1 June 2024 do state that if a player’s contract is terminated due to pregnancy, refusing to take a pregnancy test or taking leave, the club could face penalties such as fines and a 12-month ban from the transfer market.
FIFPRO are still pushing for better minimum standards, such as automatically extended contracts. This right of extension exists in Argentina and Spain, according to FIFPRO, the global union for professional footballers, where extension is for a full year.
In August, AC Milan became the first club in Europe to guarantee automatic one-year contract extensions “on the same economic terms” for players if their contract is due to expire during the season in which the pregnancy started. Players are also provided childcare during sports activities and support for flights, accommodation, and other travel expenses.
Contract extensions after a pregnancy is announced are not unheard of in the WSL. Manchester United triggered an option clause in defender Blundell’s contract in September to keep the 30-year-old at the club for another year, granting her access to maternity pay and medical support.
Under current FIFA and WSL regulations, Mewis’ West Ham contract can expire while she is pregnant and the club would not be in breach of any rule.
West Ham United did not respond to a request for comment when approached by The Athletic about Mewis’ contract.
Could this affect Kerr’s Chelsea future?
Kerr signed a two-year contract extension with Chelsea in June, keeping her at the club until the summer of 2026.
While Kerr will not carry the child, she is still entitled to family leave, in accordance with FIFA’s regulations. Non-biological mothers in same-sex relationships are guaranteed eight weeks of paid absence, which must be taken within six months of the child’s birth.
How does pregnancy support in the WSL compare to other countries?
The WSL’s pregnancy support is in keeping with improved support provided by other leagues in Europe in that it has implemented the minimum FIFA maternity regulations introduced this year.
This is an improvement from support in the last decade. Despite FIFA introducing maternity rules for female players as far back as 2021, there was ambiguity over how clubs in Europe implemented these regulations, with some clubs paying players according to local state or country laws.
This ambiguity came to a head when Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir successfully sued Lyon in 2022 in FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber, after the French club stopped paying the Icelandic midfielder’s salary after she announced her pregnancy in 2021. In January 2023, Lyon were ordered to pay Gunnarsdottir the full amount owed.
The case led to significant changes in policies across leagues in Europe in keeping with FIFA’s guidelines, including in the WSL, who introduced their updated policies ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Some other leagues around the globe have implemented additional support policies in addition to the FIFA regulations. For example, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the USA agreed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in September which guaranteed players are entitled to six months of fully paid maternity leave and have access to medical coverage, team facilities and resources during their maternity leave. Players also cannot lose contracts due to pregnancy and if a player’s contract expires during their pregnancy, their team must invite them to the next pre-season camp to earn their spot back.
The WSL does not currently have a separate collective bargaining agreement in place with its clubs, but rather implements FIFA’s updated guidelines.
Asked about the WSL’s maternity guidelines, a spokesperson from the Professional Football Association (PFA) said: “The FIFA guidelines should be seen as minimum provisions and a baseline that can be built upon, not an end point.
“It’s also important that there is a culture created within the game around pregnancy and motherhood which allows players to feel that they will be supported. In many ways that culture is just as important as any regulations. That requires a collective commitment.”
(Top photo: Kristie Mewis and Sam Kerr in November 2024; Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images for Mission 44)
