Infotainment Factory: 'Humiliating' act to prove players' gender at World Cup

This article originally appeared on Stuff and is reproduced with permission

Swedish women's football players were forced to prove their sexuality by showing their genitalia at the 2011 Women's World Cup.

Former Sweden defender Nilla Fischer has made the revelation in her book I Didn't Say Half Of It and has called the process "humiliating".

Fischer, who played 194 games for Sweden between 2001 and 2022, said the tests were as a result of protests by the Nigerian, South African and Ghanaian teams over rumours there were three men in the Equatorial Guinea squad.

"We were told that we should not shave 'down there' in the coming days and that we will show our genitalia for the doctor," Fischer wrote in her book.

"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?

Nilla Fischer of Sweden in action during the 2011 World Cup.

"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."

The examinations, which took place at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany in 2011, were conducted by a female physiotherapist. In an interview for Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Fischer went into more detail.

"I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down my training pants and underwear at the same time," Fischer 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."

Just prior to the World Cup in Germany, all teams were requested to sign declarations, confirming that all players were "of an appropriate gender". Those rules state that: "It lies with each participating member association to … ensure the correct gender of all players by actively investigating any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristic."

Although DNA tests could have been done to confirm all the players in the Swedish squad were women, the decision was made to check the genitalia of all the players.

Mats Börjesson, who was the team doctor for Sweden's team in 2011, said he understood why there were concerns at the time.

"FIFA doesn't do this to be mean to anyone," Börjesson said.

"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."

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!