Trans footballer and campaigner Natalie Washington wins EGLSF Advocacy Award at EuroGames
Football v Transphobia campaign lead honoured by LGBTQ sports federation at Lyon 2025; Washington had been with her club Rushmoor Community FC for 10 years, while voluntarily delivering training and consultation on trans inclusion; Andrej Pisl of Out in Slovenija also selected for an Advocacy Award…
Natalie Washington has urged advocates for trans inclusion in sports to “keep doing the right thing, in difficult circumstances” after being presented with a major award.
The lead of the Football v Transphobia (FvT) campaign has been in Lyon to receive an Advocacy Award from the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (EGLSF), with the ceremony held during the annual EuroGames festival.
After beginning her transition in her late 20s, Washington wrote to Rushmoor Community FC, her local football club in Hampshire, in 2015 to ask if she could join them for training, and was warmly welcomed.
At around the same time, she began volunteering for Pride Sports, the dedicated LGBTQ inclusion in sports organisation for England and Wales.
Two years later, Washington started playing in matches for Rushmoor, including in the sixth tier of women’s football in England.
In 2019, she helped to launch FvT as its lead, with the trans-focused initiative being a connected strand to the long-running Football v Homophobia campaign.
She has since spoken regularly in the media and at events around the world, such as the 2023 Sporting Chance Forum in Geneva. She combines her consultancy with a full-time job in I.T.
In recent weeks, she has been busy speaking out against the decisions made by the English and Scottish Football Associations to ban trans women from playing affiliated women’s football, appearing on major platforms such as Sky and BBC.
In her speech at the EGLSF event, Washington urged those listening to carry on providing opportunities for trans and gender-diverse people to access all that sports and physical wellbeing have to offer.
She added: “Let’s also keep making sure we’re challenging discrimination when we see it… and let’s keep creating spaces where people can move and be joyful.”
Also named as a winner of an EGLSF Advocacy Award was Andrej Pisl, the Director of Projects and Policy at the European University Sports Association (EUSA) and the EUSA Institute.
Pisl is well known in the LGBTQ inclusive sports community, have strongly supported Out in Slovenija in its early days and then taking on the role as chair when it was formally founded as an NGO in 2010.
He previously served on the EGLSF board and was nominated as an honorary member of the federation four years ago.
The 22nd edition of EuroGames brought LGBTQ athletes and allies from around the world to France’s third biggest city, Lyon.
Around 5,500 entrants were expected to participate in more than 30 different sports competitions, including many who have made the short trip across the Channel from the UK.
A team from Pride Sports Cymru were also building awareness around EuroGames Cardiff 2027, which is now just two years away and will be the first time that a British city has ever hosted a major LGBTQ multisports event.
Further reading…
Anti-transphobia campaigner and avid footballer Natalie Washington talks about being banned from the sport as a trans woman (DIVA Magazine, July 2025)
‘It’s unusual and inspirational!’ – LGBTQ dancesport electrifies at EuroGames Lyon 2025 (Sports Media LGBT+, July 2025)
Trans in football stories: Useful content that educates and explains (Sports Media LGBT+, March 2024)
To learn more about EuroGames Cardiff 2027, visit the official website where you can sign up for email updates.
Interested in sponsorship and partnership opportunities? Email the team at info@pridesports.cymru.
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