Swedish soccer players had to show genitals to prove they were women

Swedish soccer players had to “show their genitalia” to a team medical worker to prove they were females during the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, the team’s former captain has revealed.

Former center back Nilla Fischer, 38, who played 194 times for her country, wrote in a new book titled “I Didn’t Even Say Half Of It” that a female physiotherapist conducted the invasive checks on behalf of a team doctor, the Times of London reported.

“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.

“[We think:] ‘Why are we forced to do this now, there has to be other ways to do this. Should we refuse?’” she wrote. “At the same time no one wants to jeopardize the opportunity to play at a World Cup. We just have to get the s— done, no matter how sick and humiliating it feels.”

Fischer noted that the environment on the team felt “safe,” but that it was unclear why the players were asked to show their privates when swab tests could have been used to determine genders through DNA instead.

“I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down the training pants and panties at the same time,” Fischer told Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet, according to the Times of London.

“The physiotherapist nods and says, ‘Yeah,’ and then looks out at the doctor, who is standing with his back to my doorway,” she said. “When everyone in our team is checked, that is to say has exposed their vagina, our team doctor can sign off that the Swedish women’s national football team only consists of women.”

The gender tests were conducted after allegations by Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana that members of the Equatorial Guinea squad included three men, Genoveva Anonma, Slimata Simpore and Biliguisa Simpore.

Mats Börjesson, Sweden’s team doctor in 2011, said FIFA demanded the gender checks after the allegations about Equatorial Guinea’s team.

“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,” he said, according to the Telegraph.

It is understood that although FIFA required the gender tests during the 2011 tournament, they did not ask nations to conduct the specific physical exam that Fischer described in her book.

“We have taken note of recent comments made by Nilla Fischer around her experiences and gender verification testing conducted by the Swedish national team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup,” the world governing body said in a statement.