Newscasts - Spain's first transgender soccer team debuts in men's league

Franklin Covey

04/10/2024 22:28

Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_5nfkqqsd&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2024:newsml_RW946904102024RP1_K15&pageId=Newscasts
Source: 'Reuters - General news videos'

Description: A soccer team consisting entirely of transgender men has made its
debut in a regional league in Spain, overcoming administrative challenges and
prejudice to become the first all-transgender squad to achieve federated
status in Europe. Angela Johnston reports.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/3TZofjQ

Video Transcript:

This is Spain’s Fenix FC. A team consisting entirely of transgender men.
Named after the mythical bird symbolizing rebirth, it's the first all-trans
squad with federated status in Europe. Players say the journey here hasn't
been easy. 24-year-old Hugo Martinez founded the team. He says he faced abuse
when he began transitioning and was forced to leave the women’s team he
played on.

I was a boy playing in the girl's team, but without a changed ID. Then, I
couldn't play even with boys and they, the people on the stands, the parents,
the other players, the other coaches, well, they said things that they didn't
have to say, insults, threats.

The team made its debut in the fifth tier in Spain's northwestern region of
Catalonia in September after being incorporated into a local club in a
Barcelona suburb. 19-year-old Luke Ibanez is the team's captain. Ibanez jumped
at the opportunity to play for an all-trans side when team-founder Martinez
told him about the idea.

We were afraid of playing with cis men. We thought we would not fit, or that
if would be too violent, many things passed through our minds. We did not know
what to do to continue playing soccer.

Spain passed a pioneering transgender rights bill last year that is meant to
make changing a person’s legal gender identity easier. But intolerance
persists. In 2023, Catalonia's Observatory against LGBTphobia noted 302 cases
of discrimination or violence against LGBT people in the region, a record. A
quarter of those cases targeted transgender victims. For its part, the Catalan
FA said its men’s leagues have been mixed for the past two seasons. That
means players of any gender can play, regardless of their official identity.
Players are not required to use their legal name either. That’s not
always the case in other regional FAs or sports. Fenix lost its first game of
the season, 19-0. But captain Ibanez says the team’s significance extends
beyond the scoreboard.

Fenix is a team of trans boys created entirely by trans boys, but I think it's
more than that. A family, a safe space, a space where you can be free and
express yourself however you want and how you really feel