american footballAmerican football’s governing body announced on Friday that it would introduce a new “open” gender division to accommodate transgender athletes.

More than a year after the new rules were introduced, President donald trump Nearly seven months after the executive order “banning men from participating in women’s sports” and new requirements from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for all governing bodies to comply with the order.

“USA Football will now be divided into three competition categories: men’s, women’s and open. The open category will allow any athlete, regardless of sex and gender identity at birth, to compete in USA Rugby-sanctioned events, whether full-contact or non-contact,” the organization said in a statement.

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Cassidy Bargell of the United States passes the ball during the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup match against Samoa at LNER Community Stadium in Monkscross, York, USA, on September 6, 2025. (Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto)

The organization’s policy also appears to allow any hopeful contestant to simply select their gender when registering and potentially be scrutinized by officials.

“Division status will be determined during the membership application and registration process when an athlete selects the ‘gender’ option in the Rugby Xplorer. When applying for membership or registering as ‘female’ or registering to participate in events in the women’s division, athletes represent and warrant to USA Rugby that they are female.”

The organization’s membership policy states, “This representation creates a rebuttable presumption that the individual’s assigned sex at birth is female.”

Team USA’s Gabriella Cantorna, Ilona Maher and Emily Henrich before the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup match against Samoa at York Community Stadium on September 6, 2025 in York, England. (Molly Darlington/World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

“Whether an individual is a female may be determined through records from authoritative sources. Only USA Rugby has the authority to challenge the individual’s status in the women’s division or challenge the presumption of an athlete registered as ‘female.'”

In July, the USOC updated its athlete safety policy to demonstrate compliance with Trump’s executive order banning men from participating in women’s sports.

However, Trump has also pushed for mandatory genetic testing of athletes to protect women’s sports at the upcoming 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles over concerns that fake birth certificates are allowing biological males to gain access to women’s sports.

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The USA Football goal line flag is displayed before the game between the United States and Scotland at Audi Field on July 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Scott Teich/Getty Images Scottish Rugby)

USOPC Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Finnoff said at the USOPC Media Summit in October SRY genetic test The use of gender testing by World Athletics and World Boxing is “uncommon” in the United States, but suggested the USOC is exploring the option of adopting gender testing for its own teams and that he hopes other world governing bodies will “follow suit.”

“It’s not necessarily common to have this particular test in the United States, so our goal is to help athletes identify labs and options to be able to do this test. And (it’s) based on that experience and knowing that some other international federations may follow suit,” Fenoff said.

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