Girl's soccer team disqualified after tournament organizers say she looks like boy

NEBRASKA – A Nebraska family said they're angry over the way a soccer tournament treated their 8-year-old daughter's team.

The family says Mili Hernandez's team was disqualified because organizers thought she was a boy.

Mili loves soccer and she loves her short haircut.

"When my hair starts to grow, I put it short because I always had short hair, so I didn't like my hair long," she explained.

Mili plays soccer for Omaha's "Azzuri Cachorros" girls club team. She's so good, even though she's 8, she's on the 11-year-old roster.

Her dad couldn't be more proud.

"It's what she likes. It's what she always wants to do -- play soccer," Gerardo Hernandez said.

[WATCH: Girl's soccer team disqualified because she looks like a boy]

This weekend, Mili helped lead her team to the finals of the Springfield Soccer Club Girls Tournament.

But on Sunday -- before taking the field -- Mili and her team were suddenly disqualified.

Springfield soccer organizers believed Mili was a boy.

"She was in shock. She even was crying after they told us," Gerardo said.

"Just because I look like a boy doesn't mean I am a boy, but they don't have a reason to kick the whole club out," Mili said.

Mili's family claims they showed Mili's insurance card to tournament organizers to prove she's a girl, but it wasn't enough.

"They didn't want to listen. They said the president had made his decision and there wasn't any changing that," Cruz Hernandez said.

Mili won't let the incident stop her from playing.

"Just because I can't play here ... there's other tournaments that I can play," she said.

Springfield Soccer Club organizers declined to comment, but said Mili's family can appeal the ruling to the Nebraska State Soccer Association.

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