French Champions League record titleholders Olympique Lyon have been forced to pay Icelandic international footballer Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir roughly €82,000 in back pay. This was decided by the tribunal of the world football governing body FIFA. 

The club had stopped payments during Gunnarsdottir's pregnancy. "This story is bigger than me," the 32-year-old commented on FIFA's ruling on Twitter. "It’s a wake-up call for all clubs and it’s a message to all players that if they get pregnant or want to get pregnant during their career they have their rights and guarantees!" 

Gunnarsdottir had moved to France from top German club VfL Wolfsburg in 2020, and become pregnant in 2021. With Lyon's consent, the player had traveled to her native Iceland for the final months before giving birth. But the club had then transferred only part of her salary and later stopped payments altogether.

'Felt confused, stressed and betrayed'

Gunnarsdottir herself described the situation at the time in an article for The Players' Tribune, saying, "So, I’m in Iceland. Pregnant. And now I’m thinking, Wait, did I just lose my job?? I was seriously angry. This should have been the happiest moment of my life. All I wanted was to enjoy my pregnancy, and work my ass off to come back to help the team and the club. But instead I felt confused, stressed, and betrayed."  

At the end of 2020, FIFA established maternity protection rules for female players worldwide. According to these rules, professional female football players are entitled to maternity leave of at least 14 weeks. 

During this time, they must be paid at least two-thirds of their contractually agreed salary. In addition, clubs are not allowed to discriminate against or even terminate players because of their pregnancy and must reinstate them after giving birth. 

The international players' union FIFPRO called the ruling in the Gunnarsdottir case "groundbreaking" and sent a clear message to all clubs and players worldwide: "The strict application of maternity law is enforceable."

This article was translated from German