Player who failed to meet gender rules is named BBC’s Women’s Footballer of the Year

A Zambian player who was withdrawn from a 2022 tournament after failing to meet gender eligibility rules has been named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year.

Barbra Banda, who scored a hat-trick at the Paris Olympics and has become the second-highest scorer in the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League this season, won the award from a five-player shortlist including Spain’s Aitana Bonmati, winner of the female Ballon d’Or. Banda, a striker, received the most votes from BBC readers after being shortlisted by a panel of what the BBC said were “experts involved in football” including coaches, players and non-BBC journalists.

It is understood that the panel who shortlisted players included more than 40 women’s football experts from across four continents. They nominated their best five female footballers, based on sporting excellence, regional/national impact, and global significance. The panel voted independently and confidentially, with the BBC then collating the results to arrive at a five-player shortlist that went to a global vote.

But two years ago Banda was withdrawn from the Zambian squad for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco before the striker could undergo sex testing.

The controversy was reported by the BBC at the time, with Andrew Kamanga, president of the Zambian federation, telling the corporation’s Africa service: “All players had to undergo gender verification, a CAF [Confederation of African Football] requirement, and unfortunately she did not meet the criteria set by CAF.” Telegraph Sport established last year that Banda had never undergone a test and was de-selected for the competition as a pre-emptive measure.

Zambia said after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where Banda scored six goals, that they were aware the player’s testosterone levels exceeded CAF’s maximum levels and that a course of hormone suppression had been offered. But Banda, along with two other members of the starting XI – Racheal Kundananji and Racheal Nacula, both of whom also starred at the Paris Games – were said by the country’s FA to have declined medication amid concerns over potential side-effects.

The BBC report on Banda’s award does not mention any of this background, including only the 24-year-old’s immediate reaction that “my aim is always to score because I love scoring – it has not been easy but I think hard work and consistency have really helped”.

Banda’s presence at the Olympics was described by Lucy Zelic, an Australian TV presenter, as the “elephant in the room”. Although the player’s testosterone was high enough to be ruled out of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, the more lenient rules imposed by Fifa and the International Olympic Committee – where responsibility for sex testing is deferred to national federations – allowed Banda to be in Paris and at last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Before turning to football Banda competed as a professional boxer, winning all five bouts. A move to Real Madrid had been mooted in 2022 but collapsed in the wake of the WAFCON controversy. Instead Banda joined Orlando Pride in March, contributing to the club’s maiden NSWL title last month.

The BBC honour threatens to detonate fierce controversy, with Tracy Edwards, Britain’s former round-the-world sailor, condemning it as the “destruction of women’s sports”. Tish Reid, who represented Britain in rowing at the 1992 Olympics, said the Banda case was “another example where obligatory sex screening would negate any rumours and controversy around individuals competing in the female sporting arena”.

Olympian Sharron Davies, a staunch advocate for women’s safety in sport, said on X: “It’s so sad the BBC are actively encouraging the destruction & loss of opportunities for female athletes in sport. I’m so disheartened & disappointed they are actively cheering this unfairness on.”

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, has called strongly for such screening to be made mandatory so that women’s sport can be protected for biological females. “There are circumstances in which sex screenings are legitimate and proportional in order to ensure fairness and safety in sports,” she said in a report last month to the General Assembly in New York. “Current technology enables a reliable sex screening procedure through a simple cheek swab with non-invasiveness, confidentiality and dignity.”

The BBC said in a statement: “As well as playing in the past two Olympic Games and the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, Barbra Banda plays for the Zambian national women’s team and in the USA for Orlando Pride making her fully eligible for the award which celebrates talent in women’s football. The five-player shortlist was decided by an expert panel made up of current and former professionals, coaches and journalists based on performances in the last twelve months, with the winner voted for by the public.”