To qualify for the World Cup, they had to “show their genitals” to a doctor, although a quick oral sample would have sufficed. Nilla Fischer, the football player of the Swedish national team, condemned this in a recently published autobiography.
The episode dates back to the 2011 women’s soccer world championships in Germany. In that incident, three African federations (Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana) filed a complaint with Fifa, accusing Equatorial Guinea of including men in their women’s teams. . Two weeks before the start of the competition, FIFA responded to the allegations by issuing guidelines on gender recognition of female players. These rules, still in effect, require national teams to sign a self-certificate assuring team members that they are of an “appropriate gender”. FIFA also explained that it is “up to each ‘association’ to ensure the correct gender of all players by actively investigating any perceived deviations in secondary sexual characteristics”.
The most common method used by national teams to determine the gender of their players was to perform a saliva test using a simple swab. It seems that Sweden went even further. “We were told not to shave ‘out there’ and to show our genitals to a doctor,” Fischer recalls, before the World Cup began. Described as humiliating by the player, the test was conducted by a female physiotherapist in the presence of (male) team doctor Mats Borjesson, who, as Fischer always says, was left behind and noted the physiotherapist’s analysis results.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
