The NCAA’s announcement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order the previous day to deny funding to educational institutes that allow trans girls and women to compete in female sport.
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes. We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” NCAA president, Charlie Baker, said in a statement.
“To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Baker said the change reflected the body’s commitment to “protect, support and enhance the mental and physical health of student-athletes”.
“This national standard brings much-needed clarity as we modernise college sports for today’s student-athletes,” he said.
The NCAA is by far the largest governing body for college sport in the US, with more than 500,000 student-athletes competing in its events each year.
Other major umbrella organisations, such as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), oversee competitions with fewer than 100,000 annual competitors.
