The English Football Association has placed a ban on the participation of transgender women in women’s football in England from next season.
This comes after a UK supreme court ruled last month that a female is defined only by biological sex.
English FA Statement
Confirming this development a statement from the English FA on Thursday said “As the governing body of the national sport, our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible, operating within the law and international football policy defined by UEFA and FIFA.
“Our current policy, which allows transgender women to participate in the women’s game, was based on this principle and supported by expert legal advice.
“This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling on the 16 April means that we will be changing our policy. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England, and this policy will be implemented from 1 June 2025.
“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.”
This is as part of efforts to protect biological females from genetically modified ones in the sports and football space with the Scottish FA earlier adopting the same measure.
It would be recalled that at the 2024 Olympics, Algerian female boxer, Imane Khelif was caught up in a gender row after she was discovered to have a high level of male genetically make up.
