The people have spoken, and Zambia’s star striker Barbra Banda is the 2024 BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year.
The striker, who plays for the United States National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) 2024 champions, the Orlando Pride, received the most football-fan votes, beating four others who made the shortlist compiled by global football experts, including coaches, administrators and sports journalists.
The award is among the accolades the football star has bagged in the last few years, cementing her place among the sport’s greatest. Banda’s stellar performance as the Zambian national team’s captain and striker has helped turn the country into a powerhouse for women’s football.
The 24-year-old arrived on the global stage during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where @BarbraBanda11 scored hat tricks (three goals in a match) in back-to-back group games, becoming the first footballer—man or woman—in Olympic history to score two hat tricks in the same Olympic tournament.
In March, Banda became the second-highest compensated women’s footballer in history when Florida-based football team Orlando Pride signed her for $740,000. She previously played for the Chinese Women’s Super League.
The run-up to the victory was not easy for Banda as she faced opposition over alleged high testosterone levels. In October, the United Kingdom-based Women’s Rights Network (WRN) condemned Banda’s nomination for the BBC award, describing it as bringing women’s sport into ‘disrepute.’ WRN insinuated Banda should not be allowed to compete in female sports due to ‘questions’ over her ‘sex.’ It cited the now-debunked claim that the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) disqualified the Zambian star after failing a gender test conducted by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the governing body for African football. However, at a July 2022 media conference, CAF said no such test was ever conducted.
Such rows have affected several African female athletes in recent years. In August, Algeria’s Olympic boxing champion, Imane Khelif, filed a criminal complaint in France against X owner Elon Musk and British author JK Rowling for alleging online that she was a man. In 2021, Namibian sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi were forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics over ‘elevated blood testosterone levels.’
Sources:
https://olympics.com/en/news/the-future-is-now-for-zambia-s-star-barbra-banda
https://x.com/WomensRightsNet/status/1846240186935451986