During the 2011 World Cup in Germany, three players in Equatorial Guinea were accused of not being women. Two of the team's stars were also sent home just days before the championship.
After that, FIFA demanded that national teams certify that the players are women in a stricter way. The Swedish national team doctor and a female physiotherapist, who was supposed to do the actual "examination", knocked on the players' hotel room, according to Nilla Fischer.
"Quickly pulls down the panties"
"I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down my sweatpants and panties at the same time. The physiotherapist nods and says "yep" and then looks out at the doctor standing with his back turned to my doorway. When everyone in our team is checked, that is, has got their pussy bare, our national team doctor can confirm that the Swedish women's national football team consists only of women."
Today, Fischer still finds it strange to think about the incident.
"The more I talk about it, the sicker I think it is. At first we thought it was a joke and then we were shocked. It shouldn't happen that way," she told SVT Sport.
Didn't you talk to the federation?
"No, not about stopping it. They got it from Fifa and I don't question the federation at all and don't think they handled it badly. They did what they had to do.
The national team doctor tells us
Mats Börjesson made his first championship as a national team doctor in 2011 and confirms that the tests were done that year after a decision by Fifa.
"In every tournament, we certify that the players are women by ticking a box in the same way we tick that they are heart-healthy. The fact that it came so urgently that year and that they required more than one cross was probably because they discovered some who had cheated. It was a stress from the organizer. After that, it has been left to us to solve it ourselves, he says to SVT Sport and continues:
– The fact that the tests are perceived as unpleasant can be understood, but it is no harm from the organizer.