Celin Bizet Donnum: Manchester United winger on balancing football and pregnancy

BBC Sport contacted all WSL clubs about how they would use these rules to shape their maternity services.

Manchester United have highlighted a “culture shift” where players have everything they need to “make an informed choice” about whether they want to wait until their careers are over before considering having children.

They said the measures they had created, along with arrangements including personalized plans for areas such as nutrition, psycho-social and wellbeing, physiotherapy and sleep, had helped “remove barriers” for expectant mothers.

For his part, Bizet Donnum praised United for their support and revealed that she had been given “a lot of freedom” to spend time with her husband, who plays and lives in Toulouse, France.

But pelvic floor physiotherapy took her by surprise.

“I had no idea about the pelvic floor!” “Bizet Donnum,” he said. “But when I got pregnant, the doctor at Manchester United introduced me and [the physio] “It’s a game changer for me.”

Arsenal and West Ham highlighted how they had created rules to offer special support to pregnant players (including Sweden international Amanda Ilestedt in the former and Katrina Gorry in the latter), while Tottenham and Brighton spoke of how their maternity policies adhered to WSL, Fifa and FifPro guidance.

Besides the joy of becoming a mother this year, Bizimet Donnum is counting the days until she can play football again.

“I’m so excited to be back,” he said. “It’s hard watching the games and wishing we had played.

“But then I miss a season. Will I look back after my career and think: ‘Damn, I didn’t play that season’, or will I just be happy to have a kid?”