Fifpro Player Unions Reveal Ongoing Impacts of Covid-19
FIFPRO PLAYER UNIONS REVEAL ONGOING IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON WOMEN’S FOOTBALL SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Following the release in April of our COVID-19: It is now close to half a year since the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 and the Implications for Professional Women’s Football, subsequent roll-out of national and local lockdowns worldwide. While we remain in we have continued to compile data on the ongoing the middle of an unprecedented and ongoing global pandemic, with no clear response, impacts of the pandemic. end point or recovery plan in place, the football ecosystem continues to be impacted at every level, particularly the livelihoods and wellbeing of players. Now, we provide the perspectives of our affiliated player unions on the unfolding impacts of COVID-19 The extent to which it is impacting players and the sport is difficult to capture in real-time, on female players and women’s football. Reduced as is analyzing trends or making projections about a post-pandemic future. However, research salaries, shortened contracts, poor communication, is already revealing that its effects and the subsequent economic fallout are having a and more, are compounding the already precarious disproportionate effect on women and a regressive effect on gender equality1. football careers of many female players worldwide. As stakeholders across the international football Although the virus itself does not discriminate, experts have warned that the effects of COVID-19 community, we must focus our efforts on could include the reversal of decades of work on gender equality if interventions are not made. addressing how such circumstances are affecting This has translated into deep concern across women’s sport, especially in relation to employment players’ livelihoods and impacting their physical conditions.
[Show full text]