Spain’s football federation is working on an agreement with a fertility clinic to provide players from the women’s national team with access to egg-freezing treatment.
The initiative is intended to give players another option as they balance elite football with decisions about fertility and starting a family.
London City Lionesses forward and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas backed the project.
“It is enormous progress because the Federation understands that you are serving your country by going against your biological clock, that you cannot stop and you cannot become a mother because you need your body in order to work,” Putellas said.
There is, however, no common protocol governing egg freezing or assisted reproduction in professional football, according to El País. The World Anti-Doping Agency remains the principal international reference, reviewing the medicines used during treatment and granting therapeutic-use exemptions where necessary.
Gynaecologist Rebeca Beguería said players undergoing the procedure would not immediately be able to train at full intensity.
“The medical protocol states that normal life can be resumed, but for a high-performance athlete these are days when you do not perform at the same level: you will not run as fast or at the same intensity,” she told El País.
Beguería said the recovery period could also leave players more vulnerable to injury and abdominal discomfort.
“Your body’s blood is redistributed; it is concentrated there. The abdomen and chest are more swollen, and there is a tendency towards migraines and fluid retention,” she said.
Egg freezing can allow players to postpone pregnancy, but it does not remove the medical risks associated with becoming pregnant later in life, she added.
“Medically, the recommendation is that women get pregnant as early as possible because, biologically, we are designed to be mothers by, at most, age 35, and we have extended that.”
The RFEF would not be the first football organisation to introduce such support. In 2021, Racing Louisville in the United States became the first club to reach an agreement with a fertility clinic to offer players this treatment.