Zambia’s Star Striker Banned from Women’s AFCON Over Gender Test Results

The adventure is over for Barbra Banda. The captain of the Zambian team did not meet the criteria required by the world governing body of FIFA, whose gender rules and has consequently been excluded from the women’s AFCON. "All players had to undergo a sex verification, a requirement of CAF, and unfortunately she did not meet the criteria set by CAF," said Andrew Kamanga, president of the Zambian FA (Faz), to BBC Sport Africa. As a result, the 22-year-old striker was not allowed to play Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Cameroon or Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Tunisia.

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"The Barbra case is just an example, but the bigger picture is to try to see how these regulations can be more accountable for the overall situation - not just Zambia. Many players may be affected by these regulations, and football is their livelihood. I think the CAF regulations are much stricter [than the Olympic regulations], and they put too much emphasis on testosterone levels," Sydney Mungala, FAZ’s communications director, told ESPN.

When asked by BBC Sport Africa how to understand that the Zambian star was allowed at the Tokyo Olympics last year and excluded from WAFCON 2022, Lux September replies: "there was no such decision by the CAF medical committee." "Everything that happened was purely a CAF requirement," he added. For his part, Andrew Kamanga, president of the FA, is outraged by this decision. "If you move up to the higher level in FIFA competitions," he said, "you start to wonder why this should only be applied in this competition, when it really should concern all competitions."