Women’s World Cup 2023: First player to request maternity leave returns to court four months after giving birth

The Women’s World Cup 2023 until August 20 gives us the opportunity to see beautiful and talented athletes back on the football field, after an absence due to health or family problems.

Such is the case of Toni Duggan, the England and Everton player who surprised several of her fans by joining the Women’s World Cup just four months after giving birth to Luella. And that is that she admitted in interviews that her daughter just gives her one more reason to continue playing the sport she loves so much.

Toni Duggan and her story ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup

As reported by Relevo, Toni Duggan found out about her pregnancy before the start of the soccer preseason, and given the impossibility of participating in future competitions, she had no choice but to inform the club doctor about her condition, and then her coach and physiotherapist.

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According to her, Everton was very consistent towards her, but the 31-year-old did not know how to behave in this situation and even hid the fact that she was expecting a baby for 12 weeks.

And that is that the striker pointed out to the BBC that, in her opinion, she does not feel that women’s football is prepared for its players to become pregnant, that there is no plan of what steps to follow when they expect a new life.

This is how Duggan faked a back injury in front of her teammates to avoid participating in training.

“I didn’t want to continue training and get hit hard in the stomach (…) I had to apologize to some of the people I lied to, including my family,” he revealed to The Times.

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Now Toni Duggan returns to the pitches of Austria and New Zealand at the Women’s World Cup to make it clear that although she was the first player to take maternity leave, she is now ready to win.

(D)