The Royal Spanish Football Federation -RFEF- is finalising an agreement with a fertility clinic to help Spain national team players freeze their eggs. The federation expects to present the programme in the second half of September —on 21 September, according to ‘AS’— when its financial coverage, included services and storage conditions should become known. The measure is intended to give another option to players who want to become mothers but whose international careers coincide with their most fertile years.
Alexia Putellas explained that the national team’s captains had raised their concerns with the federation about reconciling motherhood with an international career. In the same interview, she revealed that RFEF had reached an agreement with a clinic to enable players to freeze their eggs while still active. “The federation understands that you are serving your country at the expense of your biological clock,” she said. RFEF is not, however, entering entirely new territory. The WNBA introduced financial support in 2020, the WTA added grants and competitive protection in 2025, several USA football clubs developed their own agreements from 2021 and the NWSL eventually incorporated family-planning support into its 2024 collective bargaining agreement.
The WNBA pays while the WTA also protects careers
The Women’s National Basketball Association -WNBA- incorporated family-planning provisions into its 2020 collective bargaining agreement with the Women’s National Basketball Players Association -WNBPA-. The agreement allowed veteran players to receive up to $60,000 during their careers for costs related to adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing and fertility or infertility treatment. These provisions were accompanied by full salary during maternity leave, annual childcare stipends, two-bedroom accommodation for players with children and suitable breastfeeding facilities. The collective bargaining agreement approved in 2026 expanded family-planning benefits to players and their spouses or partners, although the league has not published a new financial breakdown. Sue Bird, who froze her eggs in 2019 at the age of 39, was among those who helped bring the issue into negotiations: “Your career is your body, and you need to keep your options open in terms of starting a family.”
The Women’s Tennis Association -WTA- developed a different model because its players are self-employed and their ranking determines access to tournaments. Since 2025, the PIF WTA Maternity Fund has provided grants for egg and embryo freezing and in vitro fertilisation treatment, up to 12 months of paid maternity leave and two months of paid parental leave in cases of adoption, surrogacy or a partner’s pregnancy. Players ranked inside the top 750 who take at least ten weeks away from competition for fertility preservation can also return with a Special Entry Ranking and use it to enter three tournaments up to WTA 500 level. Sloane Stephens, who froze her eggs in 2022, had called for this protection because she could previously find only one suitable window at the beginning of the off-season to complete the procedure. “It can feel like you have to decide between career and family,” she explained.
The NWSL takes club support across the league
Racing Louisville became the first National Women’s Soccer League -NWSL- club to offer complimentary egg freezing, embryo freezing and long-term storage in October 2021. Its agreement continued to cover storage costs even after a player was no longer under contract with the club. Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, North Carolina Courage, Houston Dash, Gotham FC, San Diego Wave and Washington Spirit subsequently introduced different forms of fertility support. Portland, for example, offered complimentary consultations, assessments, egg retrieval and freezing, cryopreservation and frozen embryo transfers. Former goalkeeper Michelle Betos, who used Racing’s programme, said it allowed her to continue her career without having to retire early to try to start a family.
The NWSL extended part of this trend across the league through its collective bargaining agreement covering 2024 to 2030. The league must provide access to a specialist service covering IVF and intrauterine insemination, fertility medication, egg, embryo and sperm preservation, ovulation tracking, fertility and genetic testing, and surrogacy-related services. Its coverage is not equivalent to that of the WNBA: the NWSL pays the provider’s administrative costs, while treatments are processed through health insurance and players are responsible for any amount not covered. In Europe, Chelsea Women announced a fund in August 2026 providing assessments, treatments, counselling and workshops to every player, although the club has not detailed the procedures financed or the financial limits. Futpro offers a 10% discount on several treatments; the English Professional Footballers’ Association -PFA- provides education, confidential guidance and benefits towards selected services; and the Spanish Footballers’ Association -AFE- has agreed preferential conditions for members and their families with Hospital Ruber Internacional.
A treatment that must fit the sporting calendar
The egg-preservation process begins with an individual assessment and hormonal stimulation to encourage several eggs to mature. They are then retrieved in a short procedure and vitrified for possible future use. The process can take approximately two weeks, but it is not invisible to training: it can cause bloating and fatigue, while specialists advise temporarily reducing high-impact exercise around the retrieval. Coordination with medical and anti-doping staff is also necessary because substances used in some protocols, including clomifene and letrozole, appear on the World Anti-Doping Agency -WADA- Prohibited List. An athlete whose treatment requires either substance must therefore obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption. Neither FIFA nor UEFA has published a specific protocol for incorporating fertility treatment into professional women’s football.
RFEF still needs to define the coverage and operation of a programme that could place it among the first national football federations to directly finance egg freezing for its international players. The measure represents another step forward for Spanish women’s football, although the broader change would come if this kind of support spread across the game rather than remaining dependent on isolated initiatives. Combining financial assistance, sporting protection, medical guidance and work-life balance measures would allow football to respond more closely to players’ needs and give them greater freedom to reconcile their professional careers with personal and family decisions.
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