Motherhood and elite sports have had a complicated relationship for decades. Professional female footballers face a difficult dilemma: their peak physical performance coincides with their most fertile window. Now, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has decided to take a step forward to change this reality. The institution is finalizing an agreement with a clinic specializing in assisted reproduction to finance egg freezing for players on the senior national team.
The initiative, which came to light after Alexia Putellas revealed it in an interview with El PaÃs, represents a milestone in Spanish women's football. The two-time Ballon d'Or winner and other captains of the national team presented the federation's leadership with a historic demand: the right to decide about motherhood without having to give up their careers. The agreement is in its final stages, and the details will be released during the second half of September , as confirmed by the RFEF itself to several media outlets.
A structural problem: yield and fertility
The conflict the Federation is trying to resolve is neither new nor unique to football. High-level female athletes find that their peak competitive period overlaps with their biologically optimal years for conception. Many footballers postpone the decision to become mothers and, when they finally do, discover that their fertility has significantly declined. Oocyte vitrification allows women to freeze their eggs in their youth for later use , once their sporting career has ended or allows for a break.
Marta Perarnau, president of the players' association FUTPRO, recently explained that "many female footballers postpone the decision to become mothers, and when they finally make the decision, it may already be too late." The association has been offering reproductive counseling for years, but funding for treatments had always been beyond its reach. Until now.
The RFEF's measure is not the only one to have emerged in recent weeks. The Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) announced an agreement with the Ruber International Hospital so that its more than 15.000 members can access the center's assisted reproduction unit. The agreement, signed last June and with an initial term of one year, renewable, includes fertility treatments, artificial insemination , in vitro fertilization, and genetic testing.
What does freezing eggs really involve?
Egg freezing, also known as oocyte vitrification, is a medical procedure that allows a woman's unfertilized eggs to be extracted, frozen, and stored to preserve her fertility. It is an ultra-rapid freezing method that prevents the formation of ice crystals inside the cells and the cellular damage they cause. In this way, the eggs retain the same biological quality they had at the time of extraction.
Experts recommend undergoing the procedure before age 35, when the quantity and quality of eggs begin to decline significantly. Although there is no legally established age limit, it is not recommended after age 40. On average, it is recommended to obtain between 10 and 15 vitrified mature oocytes , although the number depends on the woman's age and ovarian reserve.
The figures for egg freezing in Spain
Interest in fertility preservation has steadily increased in Spain over the last decade. According to data from the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF), the number of women freezing their eggs to postpone motherhood has skyrocketed by 1.300% between 2010 and 2022. The first cryopreservation record dates back to 2010, and since then the technique has been continuously refined.
Data presented by the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF) in 2025, relating to 2023, shows a clinical pregnancy rate of 63% in women who preserved their fertility for medical or social reasons. This figure is 26% higher than in 2022, indicating a clear improvement in the practice of this technique. The success rate is expected to continue increasing as more patients use vitrified eggs.
A recent study by Dexeus Mujer has also confirmed a decrease in the average age of women freezing their eggs, from 38 to 35. This data suggests a growing awareness of the importance of performing the procedure at the optimal time.
Public funding and treatment costs
In Spain, egg freezing within the public healthcare system is subject to very specific restrictions. Since 2014, the National Health System's portfolio of services has included this technique, but only for medical reasons : women who are at risk of losing their fertility due to cancer treatments, endometriosis, or hereditary conditions. In these cases, it is possible to consider whether they will be able to become mothers after cancer or other serious illnesses.
There are recent exceptions. Galicia announced in 2024 that women aged 30 to 35 without fertility conditions could freeze their eggs through the public healthcare system. The measure is being implemented gradually: in 2026, for women aged 34 to 35; in 2027, it will be extended to those aged 32 and 33; and in 2028, it will be available to those aged 30 and 31.
For other women, elective egg freezing is only available through private healthcare. The complete treatment costs between €2.000 and €4.000 per cycle , although some clinics charge up to €5.000. The price includes medical consultations, ultrasounds, hormone tests, ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, and vitrification with storage for the first year.
International precedents and pending challenges
The RFEF agreement is not the first of its kind in women's football. Chelsea Women announced this summer a partnership with the London-based clinic Fertility Plus to offer their players personalized care, assessment, treatment, and fertility counseling. In the United States, Racing Louisville was the first club to collaborate with a fertility clinic in 2021 , and other teams such as the New York Gotham and the Washington Spirit followed suit.
Outside of soccer, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) introduced a special fertility protection rule in 2025 that allows players to temporarily step away from the tour to undergo fertility preservation procedures without penalty to their world rankings. The WNBA, for its part, included in its 2020 collective bargaining agreement a reimbursement of up to $60.000 to cover egg freezing and fertility treatments.
Despite the optimism, the RFEF's project faces technical and regulatory challenges. Some drugs used in ovarian stimulation are on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of restricted substances , which will require obtaining individual therapeutic use authorizations. Furthermore, hormonal treatment increases the size of the ovaries, which can be dangerous when combined with contact sports due to the risk of ovarian torsion.
Former Real Sociedad player Larraitz Lucas, who underwent assisted reproduction 14 years ago, considers the initiative "great news" although she believes it "comes a little late." "We're already talking about 2026," she laments. The former Real Sociedad captain also warns of the difficulty of combining the treatments with high-intensity physical activity.
The Liga F collective agreement, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) in April 2025, already incorporated measures to protect women during pregnancy and postpartum: contract renewal in certain cases, lactation rooms, childcare services during training and matches, and specialized staff for reintegration. Egg freezing, financed by the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation), represents a further step towards achieving a genuine work-life balance between motherhood and professional sport.
The next question is already on the table: if a national team can offer this protection to its players, should clubs do the same for all their female footballers? The debate is open, and everything suggests that the RFEF's measure will mark a turning point in Spanish women's sport. Egg freezing for female footballers is no longer a theoretical possibility but a funded reality, opening the door for other federations and clubs to follow suit in the coming years.
