Transgender people will be banned from participating in women’s football matches in England from June, the Football Association (FA) said on Thursday.
The FA explained that it is notifying transgender women who are currently involved in the game. They are being informed of the conditions under which they will be able to continue their sporting activities.
The change will affect 20 registered transgender players in England. It is linked to a court ruling that “a woman is defined by law solely by her biological sex.” The ban will come into effect next season.
The decision was made just a month after the FA ruled that transgender women could continue to play women’s football as long as they maintained testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L for at least a year.
On April 16, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act refer exclusively to biological sex and cannot be applied to transgender women. The judge’s decision was unanimous.
