Last week, National Women’s Soccer League player Elizabeth Eddy called into question the league’s lack of a gender policy in a New York Post op-ed.
Eddy, who played collegiately at USC, has spent 11 seasons in the NWSL. She now plays for Angel City FC, but previously played for the Western New York Flash, North Carolina Courage, Gotham FC and the Houston Dash.
With what Eddy described as the NWSL’s “remarkable growth,” Eddy said the league faces an “urgent challenge: How do we preserve women’s rights and competitive fairness while fostering meaningful inclusion?”
Eddy is “concerned that without clarity about who the league is for, it will lose its identity and its momentum,” she said.
Eddy called on the NWSL to “adopt a clear standard.”
“Addressing this challenge entails remembering why women’s sports categories exist in the first place: not to exclude but to create a space where female athletes can physically compete on equal footing,” Eddy wrote.
She suggested it follow the examples of the Football Association, England’s soccer governing body, which requires all players to be born with ovaries, or the example of World Athletics, which implemented SRY gene tests.
“Women’s sports showcase the full range of human ability as we reach and exceed what’s physically possible,” she wrote. “Everybody needs a chance to break records and achieve the previously impossible. That’s why we love to celebrate women competing against each other and why we need creative solutions to ensure everybody can compete on a level playing field.
“It would be nice to have no need for clear eligibility criteria. Unfortunately, when money, power and fame are at stake, which inevitably happens in professional sports, competitors may try to push on what is right or fair. Especially when the goal of winning requires using every available advantage.”
How the team and teammates responded
Eddy’s NWSL team, Angel City FC, released a statement the day after Eddy’s op-ed was published.
“In response to an op-ed published on October 27th, we want to make clear that while we respect the right for an individual to express their opinion, it does not reflect the opinion of an entire organization. Since our founding, Angel City has remained committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging. These principles will always guide how we show up for our team, fans, and community,” the team said.
On Friday, Angel City FC captains Sarah Gorden and Angelina Anderson held a press conference to address their teammate’s op-ed.
Angel City FC shared a video from the press conference on X, writing, “Our captains spoke with courage and clarity. No one in our community should be questioned, harassed or targeted because of their identity.”
“That article does not speak for this team in this locker room,” Gorden said. “I’ve had a lot of convos with my teammates in the past few days, and they are hurt and they are harmed by the article, and also they are disgusted by some of the things that were said in the article.”
Gorden added that she and her teammates “don’t agree with the things written for a plethora of reasons, but mostly the undertones come across as transphobic and racist as well.”
Anderson added that Angel City was “founded upon inclusivity and love for all people.”
She said that’s reflected in the locker room, staff and fan base and that Angel City will always be “a place for everyone.”
“I just want everyone to know that we’re doing our best in the locker room to preserve respect and belonging on this team,” she said.