A book about Swedish soccer player Nilla Fischer was published on Friday. The topic of discussion in the country’s media was especially the gender check carried out at the 2011 World Cup.
Central defender who played 194 matches in the Swedish women’s national football team Nilla Fischer38, recounts the humiliating display of genitalia required of the team at the 2011 World Cup.
The excerpt from the recent book “Jag sa inte ens halved” about Fischer was reported among other things Swedish public broadcasting company SVT.
At the 2011 World Cup held in Germany, the gender of three players of the Equatorial Guinea national team was suspected, and two of them were sent home before the start of the tournament. With that, Fifa demanded the players of the World Cup teams to account.
The team’s male doctor and female physiotherapist knocked on the door of Fischer’s hotel room.
– I understood what I had to do and quickly pulled down my shorts and underwear. The physical therapist nodded and said “Yep” then looked at the doctor who was standing with his back to my door. When everyone in our team had been checked, in other words showed their genitals, the national team doctor recorded that all the players of the Swedish women’s national team are women, says Fischer in his book.
Ficher says in the book that the incident was humiliating, and he still finds what happened strange.
– The more I talk about it, the more nauseating it sounds. At first we thought it was a joke and then we were shocked. It shouldn’t have turned out that way.
– The association received an order from Fifa (International Football Federation). I didn’t question the union at all, and I don’t think they did anything wrong. The union did what was required of them, Fischer tells SVT.
Worked as a doctor for the Swedish national team in the 2011 tournament Mats Börjesson confirms that the review was commissioned by Fifa.
– In every tournament, we check the box that the players are women. In the same way that it is recorded that the players do not have heart problems. The reason why more than one tick was urgently required at that time was because some had cheated. The organizer put pressure to find out everyone’s gender, but we had to find ways, says Börjesson.
The doctor also commented on the case for Aftonbladet.
– Fifa didn’t do it out of spite. The field of sports has been trying to be fair to girls so that they don’t have to train their whole lives just because someone comes along with an unfair advantage.
Aftonbladet says that the other national team players do not want to comment on the incident. Fifa also does not want to comment on its 2011 guidelines.