The English Football Association (FA) has said it will ban transgender players from women’s football from next season, starting on June 1.
The move comes after Britain’s highest court delivered a controversial landmark ruling that only what it termed “biological” women and not trans women meet the definition of a woman under equality laws. It was greeted with concern by trans supporters but welcomed by the government as bringing clarity.
The Scottish FA also decided to ban trans players from women’s football in a decision earlier this week.
The FA said in a statement on Thursday: “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.
“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.While the ruling was cheered by some feminist groups, it has been condemned by trans-rights groups who said it would have a broad and detrimental impact on daily life.
“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.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that although individual sports could determine their own policies, they were still required to operate within the bounds of the law.
“We have been clear that biology matters when it comes to women’s sport, that everyone should be compliant with the law,” he said.
“And we will continue to ensure women and girls across the country can enjoy sports and we will continue to support bodies to protect the integrity, fairness and safety of the game.”
The issue has been polarizing in the U.K. and beyond, particularly in the United States, where President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to prohibit participation of transgender athletes in sports and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.
About 20 transgender women have been playing in English grassroots games this season.
“The people I know that are talking about this are saying, ‘Well, that’s it for football for me,'” said Natalie Washington, a member of the group Football v Transphobia. “Most people clearly don’t feel that they can go and play in the men’s game for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort.”
Fiona McAnena, of the group Sex Matters, welcomed the English FA decision, saying it was long overdue.
“The FA has had ample evidence of the harms to women and girls caused by its nonsensical policy of letting men who identify as women play in women’s teams,” McAnena said. “The requirement to lower their testosterone tells you that everyone knew they were not women.”
McAnena said that every other sporting body needs to take similar action.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
