June 23 – Transgender and non-binary footballers can play for a women’s or men’s team, the German Football Association (DFB) said today, a decision that goes against the trend of banning transgenders from the women’s game.Transgender, intersex and non-binary players can decide for themselves on which team they want to compete.
“At its core, this ruling says that players with a personal (gender) status that is ‘diverse’ or ‘no reference’ and players who change their gender can take their own decision whether they will be issued an eligibility to play for a men’s or women’s team,” the DFB said.
“It also applies to transgender players who can now switch at a self-determined time or remain initially in the team in which they’d been playing previously,” the DFB said.
“As long as the sporting activity does not affect the health of the person while they are taking medication, the person can take part in the game, which is why the new regulation excludes doping relevance.”
“As it is possible since 2018 for people to register in the civil registry as ‘diverse’, there has been a rise in the number of people with that status,” said the DFB. “This also affects people who play football which made the need for clear rules more important.”
The decision by the German FA bucks the global sporting trend after world swimming’s ban of transgender women from women’s competitions and the International Rugby League’s ban of transgender athletes from women’s international matches.
“With the regulation of the right to play, we are creating further important prerequisites to enable players of different gender identities to play,” said the DFB’s diversity officer Thomas Hitzlsperger.
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