27,000 euros instead of 109,000, a former OL player partially paid because of her pregnancy!

Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir won her fight against her former club, Olympique Lyonnais, who had not fully paid the Icelandic player in 2021 at the time of her pregnancy. Indeed, according to the decision of the FIFA court, she had only received about EUR 27,000 net of the EUR 109,000 initially due.

A great loss that she has therefore decided to successfully restore through the FIFA Football Court. “It is part of my rights and it cannot be contested, even by a club as big as Lyon,” the 32-year-old said in a column published by the platform The Players’Tribune.

A “historic decision”

For the Icelandic athlete, this success for FIFA “sounds like a guarantee of financial security for all players who want a child during their career,” added the one who is now evolving under the colors Juventus Turin.

The union of world players (Fifpro) accompanied the player in her legal proceedings, highlighting a “historic decision”.

It should be noted that FIFA has introduced rules regarding the maternity wards of female football players. The aim is to protect sportswomen who decide to have a child during their career. One of these measures, for example, concerns maternity leave, which must be at least 14 weeks, of which eight weeks after childbirth.

In a blog intended for professional players, the 32-year-old wrote about the exchanges she had with Vincent Ponsot. “If Sara goes to FIFA with her file, there is no future for her in Lyon,” says the director-general of football at OL.

It is a very bad publicity stunt that OL has just suffered on its women’s football, which is nevertheless one of its finest showcases.