SFA bans trans women competing in women’s football in Scotland

The Scottish FA is updating its gender policy in order to ban transgender women competing in women’s football, BBC Scotland has learned.

From next season, only those born biologically female will be allowed to take part in competitive matches in the women’s game.

The current policy allows transgender women to compete in their affirmed gender category on a case-by-case basis, with testosterone levels also taken into account.

The new policy will apply to all competitive football in Scotland, including the grassroots game from under-13s and over.

However, it is understood there are currently no transgender women playing competitive football north of the border.

The revised policy was given the go-ahead at a recent board meeting but discussions aimed at updating the current guidelines had been ongoing for some time.

The final decision was taken after the recent Supreme Court ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.

The SFA rule change will see the governing body bring football into line with other sports like rugby, swimming and athletics.

In England, the FA rules state that transgender women can compete in the women’s game if they show low enough testosterone levels and they are assessed by a match observer.

There are 20 transgender women registered to play amateur football in England among the millions who play at that level.