Ellis hails new FIFA rules around pregnancy, adoption and menstruation

MANCHESTER, England : FIFA's new pay regulations to support female players and coaches through pregnancy, adoption and maternity leave are a big step for women who have struggled to juggle children and career, said former U.S. coach Jill Ellis.

Among the regulations, approved unanimously by the FIFA Council earlier this month, the minimum 14 weeks' paid maternity leave for players has been extended to coaches, plus players and coaches adopting a child will be entitled to eight weeks' paid absence when the adopted child is younger than two.

A female player or coach who is not the biological mother will be granted a minimum of eight weeks' family leave.

The new regulations will also allow women to receive full pay while absent from training or matches due to menstrual problems, plus encourage teams to allow female players more contact with family while on international duty.

"(A football career) shouldn't be exclusive of being a mum or raising a child, it should be inclusive of that," said Ellis, who coached the U.S. women's team to World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019. "If I didn't have support around me, I wouldn't have had the ability to do that and maintain my career.

"These are big steps and big strides to really normalise the life that we go through as women … that's what we want to provide now at every level, the club level, the national team level –- the opportunity for pro players to have the chance to be mums," added Ellis, who led FIFA's Technical Study Group at the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Under the new regulations, clubs can register players outside a registration period to temporarily replace female players who are absent for pregnancy, adoption or family leave, while players returning to soccer for any of those