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The Football Association has announced that it will ban transgender women from playing in women’s football from 1 June. It follows the ruling from the supreme court that the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman.
The decision comes barely a month after the FA ruled that transgender women could continue to play in the women’s game as long as they kept their testosterone levels below 5 n/mol for at least 12 months.
However the FA has now performed a significant U-turn after receiving legal advice from its KCs that the supreme court’s ruling meant it had to fundamentally change its rules. Its announcement comes two days after the Scottish Football Association announced it would enact a similar policy from next season.
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“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,” the FA said.
“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.”
This decision is understood to affect 20 registered transgender players in England, and the FA said it would reach out to them to explain the changes.
“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,” the FA said.
Before the supreme court clarification, the FA had quietly updated its policy in April after a year-long review. The new policy stated that transgender women could keep playing in the women’s game – however it gave the FA scope to judge an individual’s criteria on a case-by-case basis if it felt there were safety or fairness concerns.
However that policy no longer applies and the FA’s decision will put pressure on other sports to follow suit.
The campaign group Sex Matters, which has called for clarity about biological sex in law and life, was among those to welcome the decision. “This is welcome but long overdue,” said Fiona McAnena, Sex Matters’ director of campaigns. “Every other sporting body now needs to re-establish a genuine women’s category. Anyone who cares about women and girls in sport will see that this is the right thing to do.”
The LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall has been approached for comment.
