Playing football and being a mum - the 'two dreams' for Man Utd's Bizet

Celin Bizet Donnum is living proof that the two ambitions she once scribbled in a childhood diary can coexist. The Manchester United winger, capped 25 times by Norway, is weeks away from her first child and insists she has never considered swapping boots for baby blankets on a permanent basis.

“If you have two dreams, you can live both of them at the same time,” she told BBC Women’s Football Weekly, speaking publicly for the first time since announcing her pregnancy in December. The baby is due in 2026, meaning Bizet Donnum will sit out the remainder of this WSL season, yet the 24-year-old frames the pause as a calculated investment rather than a sacrifice.

“It was a hard thing to actually get pregnant and not be in the team. Missing out the whole season—it’s very scary,” she admitted. “But for me, it was even more scary to not have the baby in my career.”

Her candour is striking in a league where, until recently, motherhood has been viewed as a post-retirement project. Ellen White, the former England striker who conducted the interview, waited until hanging up her boots before starting a family. “A lot of players older than me waited until they retired,” White reflected. “You feel like you’re having to sacrifice something.”

That climate is shifting, albeit slowly. Aston Villa’s Missy Bo Kearns, also 24, revealed her own pregnancy earlier this month, while Everton loanee Hannah Blundell returned to top-flight action in November, seven months after giving birth. Birmingham City striker Simone Magill is expecting in May. Still, Bizet Donnum notes, “It’s still very rare to have a baby when you are a footballer.”

FIFA’s 2024 maternity reforms have underpinned the changing landscape: a mandatory 14 weeks of full pay, flexible registration windows for returning players, and the right for clubs to sign short-term replacements. The WSL, fully professional since 2018, has enshrined these standards, yet Manchester United believe culture is just as important as compliance.

United say they have built “a culture change” in which tailored nutrition, psychological support, physiotherapy and sleep programmes “break down barriers” for expectant mothers. Bizet Donnum, whose husband Aron—herself a professional footballer with Toulouse—has been granted additional travel leeway to balance medical appointments in France, praises the club’s holistic approach. Even the introduction of pelvic-floor physiotherapy, initially an alien concept, has become “game-changing”.

Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Brighton each told BBC Sport they have expanded on FIFA’s baseline, offering bespoke care packages. Sweden defender Amanda Ilestedt and Australia midfielder Katrina Gorry were cited as examples of players who have benefited.

For Bizet Donnum, the countdown to kick-off has already begun. “I am so excited to come back,” she said, admitting that watching United matches from the stands has become a weekly exercise in restraint. “It’s hard when I’m watching the games and wishing I played. But then it’s one season I am missing. After my career, will I look back and think: ‘Damn, I didn’t play that season’ or will I just be happy that I’ve had a kid?”

The answer, she believes, is already written. “Of course I will come back to football—that’s my motivation.”

The full conversation between Ellen White and Celin Bizet Donnum is available on the Women’s Football Weekly podcast, with an extended video version on BBC iPlayer from 26 March.