Gender verification tests: did Sweden’s female footballers have to bare themselves ahead of the 2011 World Cup?

Sweden’s soccer players apparently had to undress before the 2011 World Cup: The physical examination should check whether the soccer players are actually women, reports former Swedish international Nilla Fischer, according to the British “Guardian”. The report is based on revelations from the 38-year-old’s biography, which was published last Friday.

As the 189-time Swedish international writes in her book “Jag sa inte ens halves” (“I didn’t even say half”), she had to undress in front of a physiotherapist who had been commissioned by a doctor. She experienced the whole process as “humiliating”. The gender tests were carried out because, before the World Cup, several nations had alleged that men were also playing in the Equatorial Guinea team. As a result, the world football association FIFA initiated controls.

The Guardian also reports that FIFA has taken note of Fischer’s recent comments regarding her experience and the gender verification tests conducted by Sweden’s national team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup. The then Swedish team doctor, Mats Börjesson, confirmed the controls to the Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet”. He considered the purpose of the investigations to be justifiable. FIFA doesn’t do this to want to be mean to anyone.