Spain’s first transgender soccer team makes debut in regional men’s league!!!
“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 where you can be free and express yourself,” one player said.
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-trans squad to achieve federated status in Europe.
The team, named Fenix FC after the mythical bird symbolizing rebirth, played some friendlies and seven-a-side games last season but now competes in the fifth tier in the northwestern region of Catalonia after being incorporated into a local club in the Barcelona suburb of Sant Feliu de Llobregat.
Spain passed a pioneering trans rights bill last year designed to make it easier to change a person’s legal gender identity. But intolerance persists, with a record 302 cases of discrimination or violence against LGBTQ people in Catalonia in 2023, a quarter of which targeted transgender victims, according to data compiled by the region’s Observatory Against LGBTphobia.
Captain Luke Ibanez, 19, said he was hesitant about playing for a team with cisgender — or non-trans — men, as he feared he would not fit in or even suffer violence. So when Martinez told him about his idea for an all-trans side, he quickly jumped on board.
“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 where you can be free and express yourself however you want and how you really feel.”
Fenix’s first game of the season on Sept. 21 ended with a 19-0 defeat. But for its fans and players, trans men having the right to play their favorite sport on equal terms is far more important than the score.
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