Girls were forced to undress and show their genitals

Swedish soccer players had to show their genitals to a doctor during the 2011 World Cup to prove they were women. This story was told by Nilla Fischer, who played at the time in the Swedish team as a defender. The footballer played 194 times for her country.
In her new book, “I Didn’t Even Say Half”, Nilla Fischer called the process that all the players on her team had to go through – humiliating. Gender tests were carried out during the 2011 tournament in Germany following protests by teams from Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana over allegations that Equatorial Guinea had a male squad.

“We were told that we should not shave “down there” (don’t shave pussy) in the coming days and that we would show the doctor our genitals. No one understood why you can’t shave, but we did as we were told, and we think: “How did it even come to this?” Why are we forced to do this now, there must be other ways to do it. Should we give up? At the same time, no one wants to jeopardize the opportunity to play in the World Cup. We just need to do this shit, no matter how painful and humiliating it is.”

In an interview with the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Nilla Fischer described the process in more detail:
“I understand what I have to do, and at the same time I quickly take off my sweatpants and underwear (panties). The physical therapist nods and says “yeah,” and then looks at the doctor, who has his back to my door. He makes a note and moves down the corridor to knock on the next door.
When everyone in our team has been checked, that is, their vaginas have been exposed, our team doctor can sign a document stating that the Swedish women’s football team consists of only women.
We had a very safe environment in the team. So it was probably the best environment for that. But it’s an extremely strange situation and a generally awkward way to do it.”

Swedish soccer players at the 2011 World Cup