The England women’s squad selected for the World Cup in Canada will be required to undergo medical testing in order to prove they are female, before being allowed to compete.
FIFA have demanded that the tests are carried out by the respective team doctors of each nation, to demonstrate their eligibility in the international tournament. However, the decision has come under fire from a number of anti-discrimination campaigners with the tournament beginning on Saturday 6th June.
Team doctors will have to sign a ‘declaration of gender verification’ in a decision which the international governing body insist is required by both males and females within football.
The enforcement has come following controversy at the 2011 African Championships final – in which Nigeria filed an official complaint that two players representing Equatroial Guinea were men.
The regulations were approved back in May 2011, following a FIFA Executive Committee meeting, before being signed off by general secretary Jerome Valcke and president Sepp Blatter – an individual well documented for the recent activities of the governing body.
A spokesman for FIFA commented on the situated, saying: “It lies with each participating member association prior to the nomination of its national team to ensure the correct gender of all players and sign a declaration of agreement on gender verification.”
But despite the claims that both genders are required to face the same tests ahead of tournament – which means the 2012 European Championships and 2014 World Cup mens squads would have followed the procedure – others have spoken out about their uncertainty.
Mark Leather, the head of performance and medicine at Bolton Wanderers – who has been involved in football for over 30 years – expressed that he has never seen the process undertaken within the men’s game.
“I’ve never come across testing being carried out for men,” he said. “The footballing authorities don’t make the men do any.”
The tests have also been criticised by Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe. “It’s a big issue,” she added. “Our organisation speaks to women playing at grass roots level who ask why women have to prove they are women and men not have to prove they are men. A lot of women feel uncomfortable about it.”
England will kick-off their World Cup campaign against France on Tuesday 9th June.
