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Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir (left) during a game in 2020 against VfL Wolfsburg
Photo: Gabriel Buoys / dpa
The French football club Olympique Lyon has to pay Iceland's record national player Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir more than 80,000 euros in wages that were not paid during her pregnancy.
According to a Fifa announcement, the tribunal of the world football association decided that.
"This story is bigger than me," Gunnarsdóttir wrote on Twitter after the decision was announced.
"This is a wake-up call for all clubs and a message to all players that they have rights and guarantees if they are pregnant or want to become pregnant during their career."
Gunnarsdóttir moved from VfL Wolfsburg to Lyon in 2020 and had been under contract there for two years.
The top club from France, which is one of the most successful in women's football, initially did not comment on the decision.
In an article for The Players Tribune, Gunnarsdóttir recounts what happened when she became pregnant.
According to Fifa, Lyon has to pay 82,094.82 euros - plus 5 percent interest.
Olympique has 21 days before the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the verdict.
On 34 pages, Fifa provides information about the events and also about the content of the contract of the Icelander, who has been playing for Juventus since last summer.
Affected are payments that were not made before her maternity leave after the pregnancy became known in March 2021.
"This is about my rights as an employee, as a woman, as a person," Gunnarsdóttir wrote on Twitter.
It is important for female footballers and women's football that the mandatory maternity protection rules introduced by FIFA in January 2021 are also observed, commented the players' union Fifpro on Twitter.
jan/dpa
