Sweden's centre-back Nilla Fischer recently revealed in her new book, 'I Didn't Even Say Half Of It', that Sweden’s women football team had to “show their genitalia” to a doctor at the 2011 Women’s World Cup to prove their sex.
The UWCL title winner and former Wolfsburg captain described the process, which was carried out by a female physiotherapist on behalf of the doctor, as “sick and humiliating”.
“We were told that we should not shave ‘down there’ in the coming days and that we will show our genitalia for the doctor,” wrote Fischer.
“No one understands the thing about shaving, but we do as we are told and think, ‘How did it get to this?’ Why are we forced to do this now, there has to be other ways to do this. Should we refuse?
“At the same time, no one wants to jeopardise the opportunity to play at a World Cup. We just have to get the shit done no matter how sick and humiliating it feels.”
Sweden players had to show their genitalia at 2011 Women’s World Cup, says Nilla Fischer https://t.co/ijGExzlObp
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 12, 2023
The tests were put in place before the 2011 tournament in Germany following protests from Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, alleging that members of the Equatorial Guinea squad included men.
Gender recognition policies were issued by FIFA two weeks before the tournament. Teams were required to sign a guarantee that all players chosen for the World Cup were “of an appropriate gender” and that it lies with each team to “ensure the correct gender of all players by actively investigating any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristic”.
Mats Börjesson, who was Sweden’s team doctor in 2011, said Fifa demanded testing following rumours about Equatorial Guinea’s team.
“The sports world has tried to create fairness for girls so that they don’t train their whole lives and then someone comes in with an unreasonable advantage,” he said.
Fischer detailed the process in further detail during a recent interview for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down my training pants and underwear at the same time,” she said. “The physio nods and says ‘yup’ and then looks out at the doctor who is standing with his back to my doorway. He makes a note and moves on in the corridor to knock on the next door.
“When everyone on our team is checked, that is to say, has exposed their vagina, our team doctor can sign that the Swedish women’s national football team consists only of women.
“We had a very safe environment in the team. So it was probably the best environment to do it in. But it’s an extremely strange situation and overall not a comfortable way to do it.”
Previously, it was common practice in sports for women to undergo a swab tests where DNA is collected from the inside of the cheek to verify their gender. There have been calls for this procedure to be introduced as it is a cheap and non-intrusive way to collect DNA and has been used for decades.
Sweden players had to show their genitalia at 2011 Women’s World Cup, says Nilla Fischer https://t.co/ijGExzlObp
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 12, 2023
Mats Börjesson, who was Sweden’s team doctor in 2011, said FIFA demanded testing following rumours about Equatorial Guinea’s team.
“The sports world has tried to create fairness for girls so that they don’t train their whole lives and then someone comes in with an unreasonable advantage,” he said.
FIFA stated that they have “taken note of recent comments made by Nilla Fischer around her experiences and gender verification testing conducted by the Swedish national team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup”.
