Chelsea are used to being the first. While plenty of that has come on the pitch, it is the behind the scenes work that is truly leading the way for female players and women’s health.

Now, the Blues are the first team in the WSL to introduced new fertility and maternity policies, giving their players the choice to start a family in whichever way they want to, and the post-natal support to balance the demands of elite sport and motherhood.

The Blues were also the first club in the world to starting tracking menstrual cycles – introduced by Emma Hayes in February 2020 – and how they impact performance. This is the next step in that process.

“As a club, it’s always been really important for us to support our players the best way possible,” Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor exclusively told Sky Sports.

“We want to be a club who always supports the players to have more knowledge around different opportunities… it’s more for them to be able to make a choice and a decision about what they want for them.

“Every player is different, every individual is different, they have a different journey and you can make a choice based on what you know and what is available for you.

“You don’t have to choose anymore between your professional career and your personal life being a mum. Now, both are possible.”

Chelsea have partnered with leading London fertility clinic Fertility Plus – and former goalkeeper and commercial manager for the women’s team, Carly Telford, has led the way it that collaboration.

She exclusively told Sky Sports: “I’ve seen first-hand the kind of experiences that women, girls and athletes have when it comes to making choices around fertility and I wanted us to be a leading club in that.

“I wanted to find someone that understood us as athletes first, but also understood us as women and what that comes with. I wanted to find a fertility clinic that offered more than just egg freezing and more than just optional things, but to give choices around hormones, endometriosis, cycle tracking, testing – something all-encompassing around the female body.

“Then what the players do with that is completely up to the individual. That was really important to the club and to the players in terms of having options outside of their careers for how their families or how the individual look at themselves.

“It brings comfort and a thought process that we as a club are looking at them differently and are treating them as people as well as footballers. They will give their whole bodies to this club for the amount of time they’re with us and it’s an extra option for them to think about themselves.

“It’s an important thing to have that every club should be looking at, the league should be looking at, the FA should be looking at in terms of making sure that women have a choice when it comes to their whole body and what that looks like during and after their careers.”

‘I thought there was only one way for me to becoming a mum and be a footballer’

Bompastor herself has four children with her partner, Chelsea assistant coach Camille Abily. She always knew she wanted to have a family, but a lack of options during her own player career led her to believe there was only one way for her to have children.

“When I reflect on my own story and experience, I didn’t really have the choice,” she explained. “I wanted to have a really good career as a player and I decided to carry on and to finish maybe a little bit earlier than what I should have done because I also wanted to become a mum and have a family.

“With the knowledge I had in that moment and everything that was available for me, I thought it was almost the only way for me to do that, because when we talk about becoming a mum when you are still an athlete, there are lot of questions to answer.

“It’s about the pregnancy, but also everything after that. How can you look after your kid when you are an athlete and you play at the highest level? All these things were really difficult questions for me and I didn’t have all the answers.

“Now, to have a club who is able to support the players, bringing them the knowledge, allowing them to talk about that subject is really important for us and giving them different opportunities to become a mum when they decide to. I’m really proud to be the head coach at Chelsea and to offer that opportunity to the players.”

‘Players are feeling comfortable with new policies’

No Chelsea players have yet revealed their intention to use the new resources available to them which, of course, should remain their own private decisions.

But Telford – who remains close with the squad from her own playing days – gave some insight into how the policies have been received.

She explained: “We touched base with some of the players and I’m lucky enough to be friends with a lot of them, so I leant on a few of them just to see what they felt about what this would look like for them. A lot of the feedback was ‘this would be really good, keep us across it’.

“As soon as we knew the deal with Fertility Plus deal was close, we informed the leadership group who then informed the team and since then, we’ve had a lot of good feedback. The players are feeling very comfortable with it and then how they act upon that based on their own individual needs.

“Any information will confidentially be shared amongst the doctors at Fertility Plus and the doctors within the club and it will stay like that.”

Chelsea have had pregnant players before. Melanie Leupolz had a baby in 2022 before returning to play for the club, while Zecira Musovic moved back to Sweden in June 2025 before giving birth later that year.

Telford said their pregnancies made her and the club consider how older players in the squad might be approaching their fertility and future families. For example, former Blues captain Millie Bright recently announced her pregnancy having retired from playing earlier this year.

“The 30-plus-year-olds are probably the last group of women that have had to maybe put those things on hold,” Telford hopes.

How the policies work in tandem to offer players options

Ultimately, the two programmes offer players choice in whatever they decide, whether that is to start a family or looking after their gynaecological health. There is a clear link between fertility and maternity care and the two will work in tandem to give the players the support they need.

Bompastor said: “Having a family is something no one can teach you. You just learn to be a mum when you have your first child and even if someone is trying to tell you how you have to deal with the situation, you only learn when you have a baby.

“Having the opportunity to have platforms where you have information you can share with different people who already experienced that is already a big thing.

“Also, giving the support to players after having a baby. They need that because when you are a high-level athlete and you become a mum, those are two full-time jobs and you need that support to be able to do both at your best level.

“All these elements are really important for the players to have, but also for them to know there are different opportunities and they are available for them.”

‘All women should know about their bodies’

While Chelsea’s announcements are player-focused, Telford is hoping that the club’s profile can help raise the importance of women’s health across the board.

She explained: “We want to be followed for the things we’re doing around the team that have a wider impact when it comes to women in general and that’s the impact that our sport has.

“We’re very lucky to play one of the most popular sports in the world and be part of one of the biggest clubs and biggest brands. If we can make businesses, other football clubs and other sports think differently around their women, that is what we want to do.

Sunday 27th September 4:15pm


Kick off 4:30pm

“As women, we need to take more control of ourselves and have more viewership of what our bodies are doing, what they look like during womanhood and how that changes in terms of genetics, lifestyle, all these things that impact our bodies.

“And it’s not just the athletes. They take a bigger toll on their bodies because of what they do, but general womanhood and what that looks like for us, that is the thing that I wanted to echo outside of football.

“I would have loved to have known more about my body for lots of different reasons while I was playing – how I get the best out of it as an athlete, what it’s like during menstruation, what it’s like in terms of longevity of my cycle and fertility and what that looks like moving forward, the options I then have during my career and what it looks like later on in life and in my career.

“Now they have that, I am really proud of it. I do hope this sparks a big conversation around what that looks like, not just for the future of women’s sport, but for the future of women in general.”

England go again. After World Cup heartbreak this summer they kick-off their Nations League campaign against Spain on Saturday at Wembley.

The arrival of the world champions in the capital will be a painful reminder of what England were so close to achieving in North America – and re-exposes the scar, as boss Thomas Tuchel put it – of the mistakes made late on in that semi-final loss to Argentina.

Tuchel has been eager to highlight the positives of England’s campaign at the World Cup, insisting the experience and bonds built through the tournament leave the group well placed to kick on and achieve success in the Nations League and then at Euro 2028.

However, while Tuchel retains the firm backing of the FA, who handed him a contract extension through to the end of the European championships prior to the World Cup, Sky Sports News football correspondent Rob Dorsett says the clash with Spain could be key in determining the path ahead.

“It’s massive, and for me, it feels like a pivotal moment for Thomas Tuchel,” Dorsett told Sky Sports’ Peter Smith during a special Essential Football podcast at St George’s Park this week.

“If England win this one, he’s got a renewed mandate to go forward, because he’s beaten the world champions.

“If they lose it, then the media will be gunning for Thomas Tuchel and saying, ‘Hang on, you couldn’t beat Argentina, you can’t beat Spain, all right, you won against France, but that was a dead rubber, a meaningless third and fourth place playoff – you’re supposed to be the big man who comes in and wins the big games.

“I think there’s an awful lot at stake and an awful lot for England to play for.”

As well as a positive result, the pressure is also on for England to put on an encouraging performance at Wembley.

Tuchel made headlines after the World Cup by claiming English players are unable to control games with possession in the way Spanish players can. That view was backed up by England and Barcelona winger Anthony Gordon.

Tuchel has since suggested he may have to “embrace the chaos” and lean into English football’s traditional strengths of more physical, direct play – a sentiment similar to the one he had when he first took charge.

“Tuchel said this when he took the job,” explained Dorsett. “Before he got anywhere near taking an England training session, Thomas Tuchel said he thought England’s players, when they put on that England shirt, play with fear. And he said, ‘my mission is to take the handbrake off’.

“He’s now saying the same things again after the World Cup, 18 months into his tenure. I think he knows – and we certainly know – that he put the handbrake on against Argentina and he got it wrong.

“It’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself that, ‘yeah, what I said at the start is right. I’ve got to let the players do that. I’ve got to let them express themselves. I’ve got to let them attack’.

“Hearing Anthony Gordon speak in the way that he has, I think will be music to Thomas Tuchel’s ears. He’ll be very, very relieved that a really important player for England shares his feelings.”

After the setback this summer, a successful Saturday in September against Spain could bring renewed optimism about the next chapter of Tuchel’s project.

Follow England vs Spain on the Sky Sports website and App on Saturday; kick-off 7.45pm

England’s upcoming Nations League Group A3 fixtures

Saturday September 26: Spain (H), kick-off 7.45pm

Tuesday September 29: Czech Republic (A), kick-off 7.45pm

Saturday October 3: Croatia (A), kick-off 5pm

Tuesday October 6: Czech Republic (H), kick-off 7.45pm