Former Jamaican star player hopes new Fifpro guide will lead to more support for mothers in football

CHEYNA MATTHEWS hopes new guidelines for mothers in football will make it “less taboo” for female players to take their children to sporting events.

The 30-year-old former Jamaican player shared her thoughts in the ‘Return to Play’ guide published by international players’ union Fifpro.

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The 48-page guide, published today, was created with input from current and former top players who are also parents, including Matthews, who is the mother of three.

Other players who are mothers and have shared their experiences include former Iceland midfielder Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, who won a maternity pay case against French giants Lyon in January.

The guide provides information on topics such as sleep hygiene, breastfeeding and pelvic health.

It also provides advice on nutrition for players during and after pregnancy, on managing their mental wellbeing and on returning to training after pregnancy.

The guide features insights from experts in pregnancy and reproductive health, women’s football and FIFA’s pregnancy rules.

And Matthews, who played for Jamaica at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, hopes it will lead to more support for female footballers who want to combine their roles as mothers and elite athletes.

The former striker said: “I wanted to keep my children out of the club environment because I didn’t want to be seen as a mother, I wanted to be seen as a professional.

“I think that was my biggest challenge: finding the balance between how often do I have my kids with me and do they travel with me?

“It’s those kinds of things and I worked with my family and the support and resources I had outside of the team to adapt it to what I wanted to do in my professional environment.

“These guidelines will really help to merge work and family life, so that taking your child on a trip is no longer such a taboo.

“And it’s not seen as a distraction and there’s room for it.”

Last month, American sprinter Allyson Felix opened the first daycare center ever set up in an Olympic village in Paris.

The seven-time Olympic champion told NBC that the idea for this was “at the forefront of our minds to support athletes and mothers” during the Paris Games.

Felix, who won the election to represent athletes in the IOC, said: “It is here so that mothers and families feel supported.

“It’s nice to have some normalcy, just a space that’s set aside for this.”

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Matthews, who has 18 caps for Jamaica, hopes Fifpro’s new guidelines will pave the way for similar spaces at football tournaments.

The striker, who played for Washington Spirit, Racing Louisville and Chicago RedStars from 2016 to 2023, added: “It’s great that there is a childcare centre for the Olympians.

“I can imagine that the guideline (from Fifpro) opens doors for sponsors and other supporters, so that players in the football world can also gain these experiences.”