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German trans footballers ‘can play for male or female teams’

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="View of the logo of the German Football Association EPA-EFE/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/06/23/20220623-german-football-association.jpg"/><figcaption>View of the logo of the German Football Association (DFB) at the headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in July 2018. Ronald Wittek, EPA-EFE/file</figcaption></figure></div>The German Football Association (DFB) announced Thursday it is changing its rules to allow transgender, intersex and non-binary players to choose whether to play for male or female teams next season.&quot;The regulation provides that players whose status is &#x27;diverse&#x27; or &#x27;unspecified&#x27;... can in future decide for themselves whether they are eligible to play in a women&#x27;s or men&#x27;s team&quot; at amateur and professional level, the DFB said in a statement.&quot;This also applies to transgender players who can now switch at a self-determined time or remain in the team for which they previously played.&quot;Difficulties have been encountered at various clubs and regional associations since 2018 in Germany when a &#x27;miscellaneous&#x27; category was added to civil documents next to &#x27;male&#x27; and &#x27;female&#x27; boxes.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/20/22/swimming-to-set-up-open-category-for-transgender-athletes">Swimming to set up &#x27;open category&#x27; for transgender athletes</a></li></ul>The DFB pointed to the example of the Berlin Football League, which had already introduced a similar ruling in 2019 &quot;without endangering&quot; the integrity of football competitions.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/19/22/new-ioc-transgender-rules-slammed-by-medical-experts">New IOC transgender rules criticized by group of medical experts</a></li></ul>&quot;At the end of the day, all people have different strengths and physical abilities that only lead to success collectively in a team, regardless of gender,&quot; the DFB said.However, the DFB warned that any medication taken by individuals during their gender transition must not affect their performance, otherwise it could be considered as doping.The decision comes a week after swimming&#x27;s world governing body FINA announced it would create an &quot;open category&quot; to allow transgender athletes to compete separately.

The German Football Association is changing its rules to allow transgender, intersex and non-binary players to choose whether to play for male or female teams.