Elite players in Spain’s women’s national team and staff to be given access to fertility treatments to ease up pressure and better plan if or when to become mothers. The decision comes as Europe grapples with falling fertility rates.
The players of the Spanish women's national team, including futsal, as well as referees and assistant referees in the top division and federation employees, will have access to treatments including egg freezing, in vitro fertilisation, egg donation and genetic testing, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced this week.
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The initiative is intended to give women working within the RFEF greater freedom to decide when and if to become mothers. Spain's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023.
"If Spain and its national teams are the best in the world on the field, they must also be the best in matters such as work-life balance,“ said the president of the RFEF, Rafael Louzán.
The agreement, which runs until spring 2029, will provide access to reproductive, physical and mental health resources, according to Reyes Bellver, the RFEF’s director of women’s football, who said the aim was “adding up and elevating” efforts in support of female athletes.
It comes as Europe is facing the lowest fertility rates in more than six decades, with the number of live births per woman dropping from 2.62 in 1964 to 1.34 in 2024.
Having access to treatments including egg freezing, IVF, egg donation and genetic testing will allow athletes to make better-informed choices with “less pressure,” referee Alicia Espinosa said.
The federation has partnered with Tambre, a fertility clinic group which will "provide rigorous medical information and specialized support so that all female athletes can freely and without pressure decide whether to become mothers now, later, or never," said Inge Kormelink, CEO of Tambre.
The initiative builds on other measures introduced by the federation to improve work-life balance, including provisions in senior national team competitions for players with children.
