FC Mother Brings Soccer And Science Together To Improve Maternal Care

Forbes

12-05-2025

What do Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Pelé all have in common?
Their mothers gave everything to nurture them to and through stardom. Cristiano's mother raised him almost entirely on her own, often going to bed hungry so that her son could eat and grow. Mbappe's mother, Fayza Lamari, is his agent and has had a strong hand in guiding his career since he was a young phenom at AS Monaco. And Pelé called his mother Celestinha his inspiration and guiding light. It is easy to forget that even the best of athletes have a mother (and father) to thank for their physical traits, their mental strength, and their undying support. The problem is that all too often, mothers around the world don't receive the same support they are so ready to give. FC Mother is trying to change that.
FC Mother describes itself as 'the world's first Healing-Sports company.' It is 'harnessing the power of 5 billion football fans across 4,500 football clubs to distribute world class science and healing solutions to our mothers, families, and humanity.' The organization is the brainchild of Morad Fareed, a former professional Palestinian soccer player turned scientific entrepreneur. It has the backing of sports doctors from major European soccer clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United, and AC Milan, as well as support from the Pelé Foundation, the Sports Doctors Network, and World Football Summit, the last of which boasts a network of 140,000 soccer sector professionals.
FC Mother is already operating pilot programs and its mobile app in the U.S., and Brazil, with Mexico launching in July. It sees the U.K. and Spain as its next key short-term markets. The organization invests in midwifery network, city wellness programs, free prenatal care centers, and provides participating mothers and pregnant women access to videos, an app that connects them to their community needs, and a WhatsApp chat where vital educational information is shared. In early 2025, the organization launched the World Cup of Healing Rankings, 'the first-ever evaluation of maternal health among footballing nations.' It gamifies maternal health using a World Cup-style model and shows the realities of maternal health in each nation.
FC Mother's ultimate goal is to discover how best to impact pregnancy well-being and share it with the world. After running into many brick walls, FC Mother-founder Fareed decided the best way to disseminate that information was through the world's most popular sport.
Fareed says, 'As a footballer growing up, our mothers are gods and remain so.' He recalls growing up in an immigrant community in New York, where Italians, Jews, Latinos, and African Americans all worshipped their mothers. Having been raised in a matriarchal community, he was shocked to learn about the maternal health crisis in the US, its global impact on humanity, and was puzzled that no one was taking tangible actions to address it.
To fully grasp the global maternal health crisis, Fareed shifted his focus from his other health-related enterprises to form Square Roots in 2015, alongside leading US political leaders and medical doctors, to find community-driven solutions supporting healthier pregnancies. He also founded Humanity 2.0 Lab to study maternal well-being.
In 2019, in collaboration with Harvard University's School of Public Health and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Humanity 2.0 Lab published a seminal white paper outlining the social determinants of maternal and child health. At the time, almost 200,000 mothers were dying per year due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth. The paper estimated that 40,000 could've been saved each year with better social and clinical treatment. Unfortunately, Fareed says the publication of the white paper failed to sway opinion or grasp media attention.
At the same time, Fareed and his colleagues were having conversations with mayors across the US in an attempt to improve the environment for birthing mothers. He says those conversations were stunted, often getting shut down because improving the social environment reduced the number of caesarean births, creating an economic loss for local hospitals. In other words, improving conditions for mothers took a back seat to more profitable, albeit highly intrusive, medical procedures.
Humanity 2.0 Lab's years of research since the white paper have provided the basis for FC Mother's World Cup of Healing Rankings. The results are staggering. The researchers concluded that poor maternal health is humanity's largest contributor to disease. Each year, it is responsible for the loss of 194 million years of healthy life, which equates to a $27 trillion loss in economic value.
Further data shows that 70% of mothers go through preterm stress, 80% don't have a primary resource to educate them on their pregnancy, and 60% are unprepared for pregnancy and birth. Moreover, a Commonwealth Fund study released a year earlier showed the U.S. ranks last in the developed world for maternal mortality and infant mortality. It's no surprise, then, that the U.S. ranked 44th out of 48 countries in FC Mother's World Cup of Healing Rankings.
The phrase 'it takes a village' applies to the newborn and the mother. Unfortunately, many societies seem to have forgotten to include the mother. As Fareed says, 'it's a team game and we are playing it alone.'
Luckily, 80% of the problem is social, not clinical. Simple solutions exist, and educational information is available for new mothers. However, these are neither implemented nor disseminated well enough. Healthcare systems are overly reliant on expensive medical procedures, and wisdom is lost between generations, largely due to the erosion of midwifery and the lack of a forum for women to share their experiences.
According to Dr. Heloisa Lessa, a top midwife in Brazil, the country is 'completely medicalized.' It has one of the highest caesarean birth rates in the world at 56.4%, and an increasing number of women are dying each year due to pregnancy complications. Unfortunately, midwives have gone out of fashion with the increased medicalization of the country. Those that remain are in prenatal care, providing information and group sessions to expecting mothers.
Dr. Lessa has worked in favelas and with indigenous tribes, attending women in hospitals and doing home visits for any mother in need. In her expert opinion, women need to be together during pregnancy and share their experiences. She says, 'Pregnancy can be a very lonely process,' adding that isolation and leaning too heavily on just the nuclear family can lead to negative postpartum outcomes.
Dr. Lessa has been overseeing FC Mother's pilot program in Brazil. She initially connected with FC Mother through the various communities she serves. She understands the organization's mission to use soccer to transmit knowledge and best practices to mothers and healthcare professionals across the world. In Brazil, she says, the organization acts as the link between new mothers and midwives. It is also amplifying the work midwives perform and is drawing interest from young midwives looking to be involved in the program.
FC Mother and Dr. Lessa have brought together 79 pregnant women in the pilot program, which has been running for roughly a month and a half. During sessions, she asks them to share their stories and helps the mothers-to-be identify the problems they are facing and potential solutions. She says, 'When they tell their stories, they heal themselves and help others,' recalling one mother who realized through her participation in the group that it was not her fault that she gave birth to an autistic child.
Dr. Lessa admits she is 'surprised how quickly things are working.' In little over a month, 97% of participants have reported a decrease in stress. FC Mother is also helping to increase male participation in pregnancy care by offering husbands who help care for their pregnant wives experiences and products tied to their favorite soccer team, such as tickets or baby clothing with their club's logo on them.
Caroline Gomes Da Silva and Maria Antonia are two mothers participating in FC Mother's Brazilian pilot program. Caroline is pregnant with her fourth child, but finds the connection and explanatory videos extremely helpful. She wishes she had had the information about the changes going on in her body while she was pregnant with her first child. Most importantly, she sees FC Mother as a resource she can trust, where previously she had no support.
Maria Antonia is pregnant with triplets, a huge surprise given neither her family nor her husband's has any history of twins. After several rounds of testing, she was told she was pregnant with twins. However, after the 12th week ultrasound, it was revealed that one of the sacs had divided, and she had triplets.
She had a panic attack upon hearing the news, but says that the midwives (who also referred her to the pilot program) reassured her that her body was strong enough to handle three kids. Maria Antonia credits the pilot program for better preparing her for childbirth. Like Caroline, she feels the videos have helped her better understand her body, and the group has given her a sense of community she wouldn't have had otherwise. She is even benefiting from the app, using it amongst friends and family, who have helped her raise money for diapers. Maria Antonia highlights how being connected through the app to other pregnant women has lessened her feelings of loneliness and isolation
The FC Mother app is live in twelve cities in Brazil and will be launching in Omaha, New York, and San Diego this month. Working alongside different communities and soccer clubs — including Gotham FC, San Diego FC, and Omaha FC — over 120 mothers will be given additional support, midwife care, and will be using the FC Mother app and WhatsApp channels to gain access to additional information that helps prepare them for better postpartum outcomes.
FC Mother will use the next three FIFA World Cup cycles to galvanize the soccer industry around this cause, ideally increasing the number of participating mothers, clubs, and fans.
By 2034, FC Mother founder Morad Fareed wants to be able to say that the organization has transformed the maternal healthcare system into a community game. After that, FC Mother's team can use their learnings and apply them to other healthcare categories.
The world's first Healing-Sports company is off to a strong start. Since the initial launch in January, FC Mother has seen increasing interest from the soccer community. Doctors, directors and even marketing teams are spreading the word about the benefits of collaborating with FC Mother.
This summer, the organization will step into the limelight once again. FC Mother and World Football Summit are organizing two events in New York City. The first event on May 16 will be centered around the premier of the film which they shot in Brazil during the first months of the pilot program. In one week, the crew captured the stories of 25 mothers. It sheds a light on their experiences and connects the dots for new mothers who may not know what to expect.
The second New York City event will take place on July 10, days before the FIFA Club World Cup Final. It will be the launch of the next film series capturing the FC Mother program, and the organizing entities will be activating New York City landmarks, like Times Square, with experiential activities for football fans as part of their community outreach to mothers.
To World Football Summit, the mission is clear and so is the potential. They are supporting FC Mother 'Because behind every football icon, there's a mother who made it possible. FC Mother is the result of a decade-long global research initiative to address one of humanity's most urgent challenges: maternal healing. Their model, Healing Sports (H-Sports), transforms football into a tool for measurable public health outcomes. By embedding wellness within club culture, FC Mother is changing how the world's most popular sport can serve humanity.'