Football couple Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and West Ham’s Kristie Mewis are having a baby.
They play in the English Women’s Super League Sam Kerr31, and Kristie Mewis33, have a child. The baby is due to be born sometime next year, the couple announced on their social media accounts on Monday.
Kerr from Australia has represented Chelsea since 2019. Mewis from the United States has represented another London club, West Ham, since last year.
Both Mewis and Kerr represented their countries at the 2023 World Cup.
The couple has been together since 2021. The couple has been engaged for a year.
Football players’ pregnancies
The pregnancies of football players have been talked about recently.
FIFPro, the umbrella organization of football’s international players’ associations, published its guidelines regarding women’s pregnancy in September. The instructions include advice on how to take into account the recovery of mothers who have given birth and at what stage they can return to the full-fledged everyday life of a football player.
AC Milan recently made an extraordinary decision regarding motherhood. The Italian club said that it would extend the contract of the player who becomes pregnant with the same financial conditions for a year ahead, if the player’s contract expires in the current season. At the same time, Milan became the first European club to operate in this way.
However, this has not always been the case. Represented Olympique Lyonnais Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir got pregnant while playing in a French club. Lyon threatened the player with suspension from the team and withheld more than 82,000 euros in salary from him. The International Football Federation (FIFA) finally ordered Lyon to compensate Gunnarsdottir for unpaid wages.