– I am without a contract, and I am still on maternity leave. This is what 32-year-old Rosenborg player Kristine Minde says to news. She is one of only seven mothers in the Toppserien. Only Minde and Vålerenga player Mimmi Löfwenius are mothers of two children. In addition to the seven, Brann profile Cecilie Redisch Kvamme is pregnant. NUMBER TWO: At 32, Minde is the mother of Ophelia and Leonardo. But after the maternity leave, Minde’s contract with Rosenborg expires. – I would like to stop thinking: “Oi, do I have a contract the next day? Will I have an income the next day?”. – That it just happens automatically, and that you already feel wanted by the club, even if you become pregnant and are a mother, I think that would have been a nice security, says Minde. The desire to start a family may therefore be one of the reasons why more female football players give up at a young age. CHILDCARE: While Minde practices individual exercises, Leonardo is looked after by eager teammates. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news Vålerenga the only club with a popular initiative The average age in the Toppserien is currently 23 years. By comparison, it is 26 years in the men’s elite series. Had Minde played in Vålerenga, the situation would have been different. – We introduced a protocol for players during and after pregnancy in autumn 2023 with automatic contract extension, says club director for Vålerenga’s women’s team Harriet Rudd to news. Simply put, this means a completely different level of security for players who want to start a family. – The protocol ensures that players have a minimum contract for 12 months after birth. – The purpose is to ensure that players have the opportunity to return to football life after a pregnancy. ONLY CLUB: Vålerenga Damer, here during the victory against LSK Kvinner in May, is currently the only Norwegian club that has set a clear line for female soccer players who want to become pregnant. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB In addition, the club wants to put several measures in place that can make life as a mother and soccer player easier. – We also have support for childcare after birth, and we want to develop this further. We have had to test the protocol during this year as one of ours has been pregnant this year. None of the other nine teams in the Toppserien have introduced similar measures. news has contacted the management in all clubs. Several of them point out that they very rarely experience pregnant players. That is why they have not drawn up concrete protocols either, as Vålerenga has done. BACK: Minde finally has her first football session after giving birth to number two. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news AC Milan set the standard The club that went ahead, and that Vålerenga has followed, is the big Italian club AC Milan. It was referred to by many as a revolutionary set of regulations. AC Milan’s new guidelines for pregnant women Italian giants AC Milan now guarantee an automatic one-year contract renewal for players who become pregnant during their final season at the club. The new contract will contain the same financial terms as the previous contract. In addition, they ensure childcare during sporting activities, as well as support for flights, accommodation and other travel expenses for the player’s children. The club writes this in a press release. – I have never before thought about having children during my career. But with this opportunity, I now think that it is possible to have children and then come back, AC Milan’s captain Christy Grimshaw tells news. Vålerenga’s model is the closest to the “AC Milan model” a Norwegian top-serie club has come. news has been in contact with several of the captains in the Toppserien about the topic. Most will consider combining children and football to a greater extent if Norwegian clubs introduce similar regulations. With Minde as inspiration, Rosenborg has already been on board with the theme AC Milan is introducing, says Rosenborg’s sporting director Mads Pettersen. – It is good that a major European club takes the lead and plans something like that. That’s how sport and the world develop, that someone does something that no one else does. – I have not made a final decision on exactly how we relate to that principle. It is the case that even though she is now a mother of two, she is eligible to extend it. Wait two years with new club Stine Hovland is one of the few other mothers in the Toppserien. She played for AC Milan in the 2019/2020 season. After that season she returned to Norway with the desire to start a family. This meant that she did not immediately sign for a new club. Two years later she signed for Arna-Bjørnar. – I didn’t want to be the one who signs and then gets pregnant right away. It would have been amusing to know that a club was actually interested in me, whether you get pregnant or not, says Hovland. FAMILY: Hovland played in AC Milan in the 2019/2020 season. Photo: Tuva Åserud / NTB It’s a claim Topfootball Kvinner supports. They have strong ambitions for the players in the Toppserien to be able to continue for longer. But day-to-day manager Hege Jørgensen emphasizes that this is not something they can do alone, as they as an organization are owned by the club. – In that case, the club must decide for itself. So I don’t think that’s the way we should go. A start is to put some guidelines, a framework, some experience in place. UP TO THE CLUB FIELD: Hege Jørgensen is the day-to-day manager of Topfotball Kvinner. Photo: NTB – Newly plowed field Christian Kalvenes, day-to-day manager of SK Brann, is of the opposite opinion. – We want football, together with NISO, to raise the standard for players who want to get pregnant. Then it can’t just be up to the club, the club organizations and player organizations must also sit down to talk about it. As he has understood, these conversations have been started little by little around associations and clubs. – It is a bit of newly plowed ground for us, but we have a clear ambition to be good at this. I hope that some standards will be set by NISO and that the football association together with the club itself will sit down and look at a solution that we can all agree on. The players’ association NISO informs news that they are positive about introducing a scheme for pregnant football players in Norway. In addition, they want to raise the topic with NHO Idrett and the football association in negotiations in the autumn. Published 10.09.2024, at 16.05
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Fear of the rights of pregnancy: – Will I have income the next day?
