Soccer Club Backtracks After Telling Photographers to Stop Wearing Revealing Outfits at Stadium

A soccer club has been forced to back down after a prominent female sports photographer felt targeted by its request that photographers stop wearing revealing outfits and leggings.

Sportivo Ameliano, a professional soccer team from Paraguay that plays in the nation’s top soccer league (Paraguayan Primera División), is facing backlash over its new dress code for photographers and reporters in the stadium.

The soccer club requested members of the press to avoid wearing revealing outfits at the ground “in order to maintain… the club’s institutional image.” In the new guidelines, Sportivo Ameliano banned both female and male photographers from wearing “low-cut blouses” and outfits that exposed the navel. On top of that, women were banned from wearing leggings that weren’t black or dark blue.

Female photographer Adriana Caballero — a professional sports photographer who regularly covers games in Paraguayan Primera División and has over 200,000 followers on Instagram — felt targeted by Sportivo Ameliano’s new dress code.

Caballero spoke publicly about feeling singled out by the new rules, sparking widespread discussion about discrimination against women in Paraguayan sports journalism.

‘The Most Comfortable Clothes Possible for my Job’

In a series of public statements, 29-year-old Caballero says she believes Sportivo Ameliano introduced its new dress code for photographers after images of her taking photos at a soccer game circulated widely. She says the club’s clothing ban left her feeling uncomfortable and surprised, adding that she always wears clothes she finds comfortable for work.

“I always want to wear the most comfortable clothes possible for my job. Sooner or later it probably had to come to this,” Caballero says, according to reports.

In a further radio interview, Caballero expressed her concern that the soccer club’s new dress code would hinder other female sports photographers and journalists.

“I always prioritize my own comfort. When I read the statement [from Sportivo Ameliano], it came as a shock, but I said to myself: ‘This could harm my colleagues,’” the photographer says.

‘I Deeply Regret That This Has Happened’

Caballero’s comments prompted fierce criticism of Sportivo Ameliano on social media, prompting club president Hector Melgarejo to backtrack and say the dress code had been issued without management’s approval.

“I deeply regret that this has happened. It did not leave the club, it was not institutional, but it was something that came out of the person in charge of the press without any authorization from the club,” Melgarejo says in an interview with Fútbol a lo Grande on Thursday.

He says the club will issue an official statement distancing itself from the dress code, which was introduced without his knowledge, and that he is still waiting for an explanation.

“We are going to issue a statement institutionally where we are going to clarify that it is not what the club reflects as an institution,” Melgarejo explains. “It was something that was done on its own initiative, but I don’t know, I don’t know the reason why it was done either, right? I have not yet finished the meeting here for him to explain that to me.”