Germany's top soccer association has decided to allow transgender players to self-declare their gender identity in order to comply with new German law.
The German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball-Bund) recently held a workshop in Frankfurt to discuss what reforms it could implement to the football league.
The DFB said it continues to work to “liberalize the playing rights of transgender and intersex people”.
The DFB has consistently used the term “Spielrecht”, meaning “right to play”, and said that from the 2025/2026 season, transgender players will have the “right to self-determination” and be able to choose whether to play against men or women.
Germany's new law on self-identification will come into force on November 1, 2024. said.
The DFB argued that the law would make it easier for “transgender, intersex and non-binary” people to change their gender or name on government documents.
The association also stressed the need to make provision for people who are currently transitioning and for those who “do not have a gender binary entry”, presumably referring to people who identify as non-binary, meaning they do not believe they have a specific gender.
“Sometimes it starts with the opposing team or an ignorant referee and often the discrimination continues on social media.”
Citing figures from May 2022, the football body said 2,228 people in Germany were “neither male nor female” and a further 969 described themselves as “gender diverse”.
Germany's latest population is around 83,445,000, so this means the DFB is making policy changes to suit around 0.00383% of the population. The number of people in this category who are also professional footballers is probably a tiny fraction of that percentage.
The workshop was officially attended by transgender activists and the “Lesbian and Gay Association,” which cited participants who “emphasized” how important football is for men who believe they are women, and argued that they do not need to “pretend” to play as a woman.
“Sometimes it starts with the opposing team or an ignorant referee and often the discrimination continues on social media,” said Marius Schopper, a man who identifies as a woman.
According to ReduxActivist Julia Monroe (formerly Ronnie Priest), who claims children as young as three can identify as transgender, also attended the event.
Monroe also Video Documentary The documentary, titled “Trans Kids – Different But Normal,” depicts four girls who identify as boys being taken to a farm to “support the transition process.”
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