Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir confronts Lyon about treatment while pregnant

When Iceland National Team captain and former Lyon midfielder Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir found out she was pregnant, she hoped for support, a continued salary as guaranteed by FIFA rules, and a job to come back to. Instead, she was met with dismissive remarks and a lot of silence.

Being a professional female athlete with dreams of adding a child to your family is scary. The physical changes your body undergoes during pregnancy are superhuman and the toll you experience both physically and mentally from pregnancy and postpartum recovery is significant.

Returning to play is challenging, but if anyone can return to full strength and fitness in record time, it’s an athlete whose body has been trained to undergo physically straining situations. That being said, returning to play without support and without the promise of a salary to support your growing family is nearly impossible.

Sara Björk was living out a dream at Lyon. As she scored in the final and lifted the Champions League trophy with her Lyon teammates, she beamed, proud to have made her dream a reality. Lyon chose to strip that dream from her and flood her career path with uncertainty.

Sara Björk’s joy quickly turned to fear

For many women, finding out that they’re pregnant is one of the biggest and happiest moments of their life. For Sara Björk, it felt that way for the briefest of moments before fear set in.

If you’re lucky you end up like USWNT players Alex Morgan or Crystal Dunn whose pregnancies are celebrated and supported (although outside of the US, Alex Morgan faced challenges when it came to bringing her baby to the Olympics).

If you’re lucky, you train twice as hard to return to the player you had been, you navigate nursing between training sessions and you travel with your child on away trips. And whatever new challenges arise, you face them knowing there are people who have your back.

Thanks to the persistence of Sara Björk and FIFPRO, (the player’s union) who fought on her behalf, she eventually saw the money she was owed, but not without consequences. As Lyon guarded their money and deflected questions, they forced Sara Björk to fight at a time when she needed rest, and question at a time she needed certainty.

So Sara Björk took to the Player’s Tribune to tell her story.

The ending to her story is not a tragic one. She has a healthy baby boy and an opportunity to continue her career at Juventus. But the struggles she faced are ones that can and should be avoided.

Pregnant athletes need support. They need security and compassion. They have the right to start a family and be a professional athlete, and they need to know they can accomplish that without fear.