English FA announces it will ban transgender players from women’s football from June 1

The Football Association has announced that transgender women will no longer play in women’s football in England from June 1 after the Supreme Court ruling.

The FA said it had updated its policy in light of last month’s ruling that the words ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

The governing body’s transgender inclusion policy had been updated just prior to that ruling in London on April 16, and continued to allow transgender women to play in women’s football provided they reduced testosterone levels.

Those rule changes gave the FA ultimate discretion on permitting a trans woman to play, with consideration given to safety and fairness issues.

Now the FA has gone further and barred transgender women from the women’s game.

An FA spokesperson said: ‘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.

‘We are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.’

The FA – which is the governing body for football in England, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man – had said earlier this week that it was ‘carefully reviewing’ its policy

The Scottish Football Association has also now updated its policy to reflect that only biological females can play in competitive female football from the start of the 2025-26 season.

The Supreme Court ruling clarified some of the terms used in the Equality Act.

Within that, the court ruled that Section 195 of the Act, which allows the lawful exclusion of athletes from gender-affected sports based on s£x, was ‘plainly predicated on biological sex’ rather than certificated s£x.

The FA added: ‘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.’

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