After being the first Italian team to introduce pensions for their women’s team, AC Milan have, once again, broken ground by introducing new maternity leave policies for players and staff, as confirmed in a statement today.
Among the protections, the team offers is offering a contract renewal to their pregnant players with a one-year extension. The contract offers the same economic terms for the players if their contract is set to expire during the season in which the pregnancy started. In other words, the salary of the contract will not be reduced, even if the player misses most of the season to have a child.
Furthermore, the team will also provide childcare during sports activities. This includes support for children on flights, providing reasonable accommodation, and other travel expenses for the children of the player who carried the pregnancy or is the sole guardian, plus one companion.
The Rossonere players will also continue to benefit from protections related to pregnancy and return to activity as stipulated by FIFA guidelines, the AIC (Italy’s Football Union) collective agreements, and the club’s internal regulations.
Milan will also provide its players with professionals from the psycho-pedagogical, physiotherapy, and nutritional areas and reserves the right to involve external experts as needed to assist their players.
All of these changes were made after consulting the players from both the first and Primavera teams as well as members of staff. The new guidelines were crafted through a series of meetings, interviews, and surveys, largely guided by the psychopedagogy area of the club.
The club posted a statement on the official website this morning, which reads, “In this same spirit of sharing, AC Milan will continue to build and shape its offerings to ensure the creation of an increasingly inclusive and safe environment for its players and staff members.”
How’s this only happening now???
I was going to say. This is great news, but how is only happening just now blows my mind. Shame on Serie A for being so late on this.
Better Late than never…
Or maybe this is one of Gerry effect? I’m not sure. The rossonere only formed at 2018 though, so being only 6 years old obviously a lot of things isn’t perfect.
That being said, female football also only become kore popular recently and one of the things that matter for women is having a child… because when a female football plaher is pregnant, she effectively won’t be playing for around 1 year. That means 1 year of free salary for her, so this new rule is a big win, big statement That the club actually care for their players. Big appreciation from me
Well done 👍. But agreed with the sentiment of others here on why it was there sooner.
I bet people will attack Cardinale & Furlani for this too, eh… 😛
Yeah man what a horror show to take care of human beings, we should burn Cardinale and Furlani alive on Piazza Duomo for this. Happy?
Clowns asking why is this only happening now and hasn’t happened earlier. Because the women’s tea. Has been around only since 2018, but they act like the W team has been around since 1899.
Given that teams in other countries have been employing such policies since before 2018, I think it’s fair to pose why this wasn’t the case from inception, don’t you?
In any case it’s great to see this happening now.
Uh, the statement in the club official website state that Milan is the first team among European Football for this though?
“In what is a first among the élite clubs of European football, AC Milan presents an innovative maternity policy for its female players and staff, formally ensuring a series of protections during pregnancy and early childhood that go beyond current regulations.”
So if it’s true, we are the first at least among european team – that is not too bad, imo?
Yeah that’s pretty fair. I was going to argue about the minutiae of the language used but when you look at what we are offering compared to what others have offered for some time already, it looks like an improvement.
However, I stand by the sentiment of my message that people are not “clowns” (red blacks words, not yours) for demanding more for the women’s game, which personally I genuinely enjoy (when played at the highest level).
Better late than never!
👏