Transgender women will be prohibited from participating in women’s soccer competitions in England “from June 1, 2025,” announced Football Association (FA) on Thursday (1), change linked to a recent court decision on gender identity.
The Scottish Football Federation made a similar decision, also motivated by the application of this decision by the UK Supreme Court, which on April 16 established the legal definition of a woman based on biological sex.
The modification of the regulation will come into force “from season 2025/26” in Scotland in early August.
If “our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible,” wrote FA, guarantee of football laws in England, “it is appropriate to fulfill the laws in force.”
“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to practice the sport they love, with the genre with which they identify themselves,” the organization added.
She also said she will contact “transgender women registered” in the federation to “explain to them changes” and the way “can continue” practicing their sport.
The Scottish Federation said it will provide consultancy on the implementation of updated policy, including appropriate participation opportunities for transgender people, before the measure enter into force at the beginning of the new season.
The UK’s Supreme Court decision ended a four -year legal battle among the Scottish government, deeply committed to transgender rights, and the For Women Scotland Association (for women in Scotland).
“The unanimous decision of this Court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 law of equality refer to a biological woman and a biological sex,” determined the five magistrates in the highest court in the country.
In their decision, issued on April 16, they stated that it is legal to exclude transgender women from certain spaces reserved for cis women – as shelters or hospitals – if this is considered “proportional”.
