– I had no reason to believe that anything was wrong. That was until I didn’t get my first paycheck. In a new post, the Icelandic football star Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir takes a hard line with her old club Lyon. Back in 2021, Gunnarsdóttir became pregnant with boyfriend Árni Vill, writes the 32-year-old. But what she first described as a feeling of “mere happiness”, was quickly interrupted by a sudden thought. – Then it hit me. “Shit. How will the club react to this?”, she writes in the post published on the website “The players tribune.” – Not right. The whole thing was to be the start of a long battle on the sidelines. The Icelander was brought from Wolfsburg to Lyon in the summer of 2020, and ended the season with a score and victory in the Champions League final. TOUGH PAST IN LYON: Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir opens up in her latest post. Photo: ALVARO BARRIENTOS / AFP Gunnarsdóttir claims that in 2021 she agreed with the club doctor in Lyon to keep the pregnancy secret until further notice. But when she threw up during sessions and had difficulty training, she was content to share the news with the rest of the team, where she was, among other things, a teammate of Ada Hegerberg. But the relief of having shared the pregnancy was soon to turn to despair. The fear of how the club would react became real when the salary did not come and Lyon turned its back. – Everything that was put in was only a small percentage from the social security, she claims in the post. Dagbladet reported the case first in Norway. When Gunnarsdóttir turned to the club about the missing salary, she did not get an answer. She is said to have gradually received an apology, and was told that the money would come, according to herself. Nevertheless, it should have been pointed out by the club that they followed French law. – No, that’s not right, they should follow the Fifa rules, was the answer, she wrote in the post. news has tried to get a comment from Lyon about the case. The day after the attempt, Lyon sent out a press release and responded to the criticism, according to the website Olympique-et-lyonnais. It says, among other things: “We have always respected French law, which we have sometimes found too restrictive on these topics. Thus, we have always campaigned for increased protection of players at these points”, – Did everything we could. As the money continued to shine with its absence in the time afterwards, the 32-year-old was forced to take the case to the players’ association FIFPRO. Gunnarsdóttir was willing to go all the way to the International Football Association (FIFA) to win, but is said to have been met with fierce opposition from his own club. “If Sara goes to Fifa with this, then she doesn’t have enough future in Lyon at all,” was the telling reply. There is nothing concrete about the incident in the reply, but Lyon claims they have followed the player up well during her time at the club. “We have done everything we can to support Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir in her motherhood, and in addition her return to the highest level,” the recent press release reads, among other things. Read more of the answer further down in the case. Vann case Gunnarsdóttir moved back to Iceland during her pregnancy to get better follow-up. In the middle of the conflict with the club, she gave birth to her son Ragnar. In January 2022, he returned to France to take up the fight there. She felt overlooked. After the case had been dealt with in FIFPRO, Lyon was asked to pay back the salary they allegedly owed her. The case has not been appealed. In July, the midfielder, who is the first woman to win the “sports person of the year” award in Iceland twice, signed for Juventus. NATIONAL TEAM PLAYER: Sara Björk. Photo: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / Reuters – I want to make sure that no one has to go through what I went through again. And I want Lyon to know that this is not okay, writes the 32-year-old in the post. The response from Lyon also states the following: Response from Lyon “In recent months, FIFA has chosen for the first time to lay down a legal framework for players who have to experience maternity leave during their careers. We are happy about that. FIFA is now criticizing us for not offering another job to Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir during her sick leave and then her maternity leave, while the law prohibits us from doing so in France, and the player had expressly asked us to be able to return to boo in Iceland, something we had accepted. We are proud to have Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir in the Olympique Lyonnais squad. Our ways parted for purely sporting reasons.” – It’s a shame The Norwegian Sportsmen’s Central Organization (Niso) tells news that they have no experience of similar cases in Norway. – This is an important case that Niso would naturally support its members fully in, should we get a similar case. If there should be legal assistance or other relevant follow-up, the head of the association Erlend Hanstveit wrote in an e-mail to news. Rosenborg player Kristine Minde knows Gunnarsdóttir well from their time together in Wolfsburg. Minde was pregnant herself in 2021, and the two talked a lot during the pregnancy. She reacted strongly when she was told about the experiences of her former teammate. CRITICAL: Former teammate Kristine Minde. Photo: Carina Johansen / NTB – One has enough worries about being a mother in a sports environment, that she will have that stress, I wouldn’t wish it on her, says Minde. She is strongly critical of the club’s treatment. – It is a great pity. I hope they learn from it. I think it is good that she shares her experience. It is not easy to do that when it is such a strong club. The 30-year-old says that she had a completely different experience during her pregnancy, and pays tribute to her club Rosenborg for the follow-up. – I am grateful for where I am. They treated it very well. I received good follow-up throughout the pregnancy, says Minde.
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Star got pregnant – was surprised when she saw the salary – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
