Transgender Women Banned From U.K. Women’s Soccer Teams Following Supreme Court Ruling

Among a wave of moves to exclude transgender women from sport, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court ruled in April that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex. That ruling, like the Trump Administration’s executive order stating that gender is equivalent to sex, opened the door for restrictions on transgender athletes.

Now, the Football Association and Scottish Football Association have changed their rules to exclude all transgender women from women’s soccer teams, effective June 1. The rules previously allowed transgender women to play, provided they fell below maximum testosterone levels.

There are no known trans women playing in professional leagues, but the league reported around 20 playing on a grassroots level. The latest census found about 116,000 people in the U.K. identified as transgender out of around 660 million – 0.018% of the population.

Sharron Davies, a former Olympic swimmer and longtime advocate for the exclusion of transgender athletes from women’s sport, said, “I’m overjoyed that women are getting their sport back at last. Hopefully cricket will follow.”

“The science is still the same. Males kick 50% harder than females, they’re taller, they have bigger hands and feet, and they’re more dynamic, particularly in goal…A lot of people are owed an apology.”

The ruling and rule changes were hailed by some feminist groups as a victory for equality, but transgender rights advocates have expressed concern about trans women’s ability to exist in vital gender-segregated spaces, including public bathrooms and hospital wards. Some clubs have also spoken out publicly about the rule change.

“In 1921 the Football Association banned women from playing football,” reads a letter from a East London club called Goal Diggers FC. “In 2025, you’ve done it again.”

“The reality is there are not enough transgender people in society for us to run our own sports, run our own spaces – there just aren’t the numbers to make that viable,” said Natalie Washington, one of the 20 transgender women registered in amateur leagues.

“This is a lot of attention on a very small number of people who aren’t causing a problem, and are just going about their lives.”