The eagle on Zambia’s national flag symbolizes the nation rising above all obstacles. Its strength is epitomized by the rise of two Zambian women who have, against all odds, risen to the summit of world soccer. In a match against China at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, 19-year-old Racheal Kundananji outmaneuvered the Chinese players and headed in the first goal for Zambia, tying the game. Barbra Banda subsequently scored three goals to give Zambia their first point of the tournament in a 4-4 draw. This came after she had earlier scored three times in their opening match against the Netherlands to become the first woman player to score back-to-back hat tricks (3 goals in a match) in the Olympics.
This was their introduction to elite-level international soccer, and they would go on to bigger and better things. In February and April 2024, women’s soccer made history when Kundananji and Banda became the most expensive female transfers, signing contracts in the United States with record-breaking transfer fees of $860,000 and $740,000, respectively. Even more intriguing is that both are Zambian women. Until 2021, the African country had not made much of an impression in women’s soccer. It was only with the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that the Zambian women’s team qualified for an international tournament outside Africa at senior level.
The story of how two Zambian players became the most expensive transfers in women’s soccer is a compelling one, highlighting their determination, grit and raw talent. It also tells a more specific African story, of the importance of national soccer associations and the particular challenges some African players face.
U.S. women’s soccer clubs Bay United and Orlando Pride shattered transfer records with their signings of Kundananji and Banda, respectively. Kundananji’s signing marked a 71% increase on the previous women’s transfer record, set by the English player Kiera Fae Walsh, of $400,000.
These high-profile signings reflect the growing status of the women’s game, which has increased significantly since the last women’s World Cup in 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. Over 2 billion viewers watched the tournament. The engine driving the commercial growth of women’s soccer has been the National Women’s Soccer League, NWSL, an independent entity since 2012, when it was spun off from the United States Soccer Federation. The recent marquee signings of the two Zambian players demonstrate the enhanced financial strength of the league.
Like many soccer players who face hardships early in life, Banda dreamed of a way out, for a better life for herself and her family. Growing up in Mtendere, a poor community in the capital city of Lusaka, Banda began her soccer career playing barefoot, a rare girl among the hundreds of boys in the community.
In an interview with Eurosport, Banda recalled her mom’s feelings about her interest in soccer: “My mom, at first, was against me playing soccer because she wanted me to concentrate on school. I got the passion from my dad because every time he would inspire me. When I was playing, I would even hear his voice shouting at me to push harder.”
Banda showed promise in her early playing days, making her international debut for Zambia’s under-17 team before going on to play for her country at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in 2014 in Costa Rica. She stood out as being an uncompromising player with good pace in a team that found itself floundering at this level. Though she was unable to get on the scoresheet at the tournament, her star quality shone through. Zambia’s team, however, was unable to get beyond the first round and went home with just a single 2-1 win over Costa Rica after successive losses to Italy and Venezuela.
Kundananji, on the other hand, was a late developer, needing the intervention of the former senior national team’s manager, Besa Chibwe, when the team’s coaches wanted to drop her. Chibwe recalled: “She was a novice in soccer, but she had good height and explosive speed, and I saw potential in her. She was not favored by the coaches and could have been dropped, but I insisted that she stay because of the two qualities I saw. … She had a rough time when she came to the national team. … But she kept encouraging herself. She never gave up.”
The turning point for women’s soccer in Zambia came in 2016, when Brenda Kunda, the lone female member serving on the executive committee of the Football Association of Zambia, made a concerted effort to take the women’s game to the next level. She looks back at that time with fond memories: “The new Football Association of Zambia president, Andrew Kamanga, had put up a 10-year strategic plan to show where he wanted football to be, so from that I realized I had to put together a plan of how we had to turn around women’s soccer. I must say it wasn’t very easy because there was not much money coming into soccer for the women. We rolled out a program which indicated which tournaments were important for us, and our regional tournament for Southern African women, COSAFA, also included women’s football again in 2017. We ensured we participated in that. We also entered the qualifying matches for the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup [of Nations].”
Kunda received the full backing of Kamanga. With this, better funding and improved working conditions for the young women, things improved significantly. It was a complete turnaround from where the women’s game had previously stood under the leadership of Kamanga’s predecessor, Kalusha Bwalya, a former star player turned administrator. Under Bwalya, after the 2014 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, the senior women’s team went on strike to protest their pitiful allowance, which amounted to $10 per player for their participation in the tournament. When Kamanga took over, their allowances were increased a hundredfold, and instead of traveling by bus to nearby countries, as they had under Bwalya, they traveled by plane.
Following a 0-1 loss at home in the first leg of their final qualifying match for the 2018 Africa Cup, the women’s team was put on a flight to neighboring Zimbabwe for the second leg. As they landed in Harare after a 50-minute flight, their opponents were making an arduous, 10-hour bus journey home. Motivated by the association’s efforts to put them on an equal footing with the men’s team, they won the away match 2-1 and duly qualified.
From that point, they never looked back. The team had a respectable outing at the 2018 Africa Cup tournament in Ghana but bowed out after the first round with a win, a loss and a draw.
Banda was part of the squad in Ghana, but she was plagued by injury, tearing a hamstring while preparing for the tournament. She also came under scrutiny from the governing body of African soccer, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), whose tournament rules marked her as ineligible to participate because of higher-than-normal testosterone levels. Both factors led to Banda’s exclusion from the team, and she didn’t play a part in the tournament, though the matter of the failed medical was hushed up. A source from the traveling staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed this to New Lines. “During her training she had pulled up with a hamstring injury,” the staff member said. “We hoped she would have enough time to recover, but then there was the other issue of the eligibility criteria that came up as well.”
The team learned from their experience with Ghana and took their game to the next level in the qualifying rounds for the 2020 Olympics, after failing to make the 2019 Women’s World Cup by exiting the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup at the group stage.
After their early elimination in Ghana, Zambia began their quest to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Wiser for their experiences, the team picked up form and beat Zimbabwe 5-0 in the first leg. Zimbabwe withdrew from the qualifiers before the second leg to avoid further humiliation at home. The Zambian women then went on to beat Botswana and Kenya, before lining up against a formidable Cameroon team that had previously qualified for the 2012 Olympics and the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019.
Cameroon entered the final qualification tie with the better pedigree, but the Zambian team had prepared rigorously for both matches, taking their training camp to South Africa where they stayed in a four-star hotel and trained in Pretoria in pristine conditions. They played two friendly matches against top clubs in which they fine-tuned their tactics and player selection.
After losing the first leg 3-2 away in Yaounde, Cameroon, sources in the Zambian camp confirmed that a 30-minute delay had held up the match due to Cameroonian demands for a physical inspection of a Zambian player whose gender they openly and vehemently questioned. The incident so unsettled Banda that her impact on the match was noticeably affected, and she played far below her normal standard. Zambia nonetheless bounced back, winning 2-1 at home to qualify on the away goal rule and reaching their first major international tournament outside Africa. There were jubilant scenes at the stadium and in the streets of Lusaka, marking the first time since 1988 that a Zambian soccer team, men’s or women’s, had qualified for the Olympic Games.
Kundananji played in the Olympic qualifiers, showing her prowess in front of goal by finding the net twice in those matches. Banda, on the other hand, was unavailable because of her club commitments in China. Both players, however, would use the forthcoming Olympic Games to showcase to the world what they were made of.
Before the tournament, Kundananji spoke about her hopes and aspirations. “To become the best player, you should compete with the best. That’s what we are going to do there. To show that in Zambia, we also have players who can compete with the best,” she said in an interview with ESPN.
In Tokyo, Zambia’s inexperience showed in their opening match loss to the Netherlands, in which they conceded six goals in the first half alone. Yet the talking point was not the scoreline but the fightback and Banda’s explosive performance, as she scored all three goals for the underdogs, who ultimately, but bravely, lost 10-3.
Banda would again shock the world of women’s soccer as she scored another three goals in their next match, a 4-4 draw with China, setting records as she became the first African player to score a hat trick (3 goals in a single match) at the Olympics as well as the first woman to score two hat tricks. She also equaled the record for the number of goals scored in a single Olympic tournament by one player. It was a moment that she remembered with fondness as she spoke to ESPN, “I managed to get three goals in the first game, although we didn’t get the result we wanted. It was back-to-back hat tricks from the first and second matches. For me to have those hat tricks, it was because of the team, because of the hard work of each and every player.”
With Banda on scintillating form, Kundananji also got her name on the scoresheet in the 4-4 draw against China, adding to her growing reputation in the process.
However, Banda would again face questions about her gender. Despite setting the Olympics alight, forces in Africa were aligning to deny Banda the opportunity to showcase her skills to an African audience. A CAF document titled “Associations Declaration on Agreement on Gender Verification,” was the source of the problem, as it required national associations to have team doctors determine certain medical criteria for the players.
As the qualifying rounds for the 2022 Africa Cup in Morocco got underway, CAF used this form to set their own criteria for player eligibility for the tournament, much to the exasperation of Kamanga, the president of Zambia’s Football Association. He was unequivocal in his explanation of how the CAF’s criteria forced the exclusion of several key Zambian players. “There is a gender certification process that is given by FIFA [the international soccer governing body], and CAF had come up with their own version, beyond the FIFA requirement. CAF placed the burden on the national associations. They came up with a medical form that needed to be signed by the team doctor, the general secretary and the president of the national association. This document basically said to CAF that we have carried out the verification process and there was a testosterone test, yet the FIFA one didn’t require this. CAF had come up with a higher version that was beyond what FIFA tested for,” he told New Lines.
Unlike FIFA, CAF’s test included testing testosterone levels, which meant that some players met FIFA’s eligibility criteria but not CAF’s. Since FIFA guidelines always supersede CAF’s, Kamanga argued this anomaly was unacceptable. Notably, FIFA does not administer any testosterone level tests.
As the tournament got underway, media reports indicated that 10 women from various countries, including Burkina Faso’s Charlotte Millogo, Burundi’s Saffira Guinand, Cameroon’s Claudia Dabda, Botswana’s Nondi Mahlasela and Lesego Radiakanyo, Morocco’s Nahla Rakkach and Nigeria’s Francisca Ordega, also faced bans due to high levels of testosterone and were excluded from their teams at the African Cup. In addition, Kundananji and Racheal Nachula on the Zambian team also faced scrutiny for failing the test.
Once the discrepancies between the two governing bodies’ methodologies were discovered, it was inevitable that FIFA would have to prevail. Acknowledging this, Kamanga said: “This is why even FIFA had to direct CAF that the test they had administered was wrong. It was now bordering on infringement of human rights. The FIFA standard of verification is that a team from the opposing side may complain, and once they do so, they set up a team, as FIFA, to write to the concerned football association and ask for the consent of the player, if they will be prepared to appear before the committee, because there is the element of human rights here. So, the concerned player may agree or refuse to be subjected to those tests. If they refuse, then it ends there. If they agree, then they can start the process. That is why, when it comes to FIFA tournaments, the eligibility procedure is very clear.” The onus was therefore on the players to agree to proceed with the testing process, and if they didn’t, FIFA couldn’t impose their tests without their consent.
The matter riled Kamanga. As he spoke, his voice went a decibel higher as he wondered why CAF would take measures that would rule out some players from its tournaments, when the rules of eligibility at FIFA would not have the same outcome. His agitation was obvious as he explained: “That is why our team was able to play in the FIFA matches with all our players. That’s when FIFA advised CAF on the need to follow the FIFA format.”
The failure of CAF to adhere to the standards set by FIFA ultimately led to the Zambian women, and others, being discriminated against and missing key African tournaments at critical times. This failure may have had a bearing on results at the continental women’s tournaments and reflects poorly on the governing body. Following the testosterone debacle, FIFA then guided CAF to stop testing the players because it was discriminatory.
Kunda, the former football association committee member, thinks that it was done intentionally, for the purpose of weakening the Zambian team, and believes that certain parties in African soccer leadership deliberately tried to rule out Banda for African tournaments but not global events. “I thank God that now this should be an issue of the past and that when we go to the next Women’s Africa Cup of Nations it should not be a problem,” Kunda said. “Sometimes, I think that when they are up against strong contenders, they want to find a way of discouraging them or find a way of disadvantaging them, and I just believe that that could have been the case against Zambia, bringing up all these issues that shouldn’t have been raised.”
Kunda also believes that the Anglophone-Francophone divide in African soccer plays a more significant role than initially appears. The overall political landscape of African soccer governance is complex, plagued by internal power struggles and tensions between member countries and regions. Historically, Francophone and North African countries have dominated African soccer administration, from the position of the president through to the committee members and all decision-making bodies. English-speaking countries tend to view CAF with suspicion, making Kunda’s view on the issue less surprising.
Today, despite the controversies caused by their own continental soccer governing body, both Banda and Kundananji play on the biggest stages of world soccer without any questions about their eligibility. Coming into the Olympics, Banda was in top form with Orlando Pride. She set an NWSL record by scoring 10 goals in 10 consecutive matches and went on to reach 12 in 12, before taking a break to join the Zambian team for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Kundananji, on the other hand, perhaps a little overwhelmed by her record-breaking price tag, didn’t hit the same highs, scoring twice in 12 games. Yet history shows her as a slow starter, who becomes unstoppable once she gains momentum. Kundananji showed her quality at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, ranking as the fastest woman at the tournament and fifth-most successful for dribbling. It is safe to say the best is yet to come from her. Their return to the Olympic Games sets the stage for them to inspire millions of African girls who have grown up in a cultural environment that often openly discriminates against them.
The two women didn’t disappoint at the Paris Olympic Games, with Banda scoring a hat trick in two successive matches, a feat unmatched in Olympic history and now achieved by Banda at two consecutive Olympic Games. Kundananji scored twice in a 6-5 loss to Australia. Even though the Zambian team bowed out in the first round, their performances were a testament to the rising fortunes of the two star players.
Mulenga Kapwepwe, an author and civil activist who has also served in the league committee of Zambia’s Football Association, spoke with pride about what Banda’s and Kundananji’s successes have meant to African women: “To see African women, Zambians in particular, excelling in soccer is excellent! To see where most of these girls come from and to see them become shining examples for other young girls is wonderful. I’ve seen, personally, where these girls came from, what soccer has made them become, and what opportunities it has opened for them. It is something we have underutilized in creating opportunities for girls. I can only imagine the amount of inspiration they are unleashing among the young girls I work with, giving them hope that they can also rise to the top of the world with just the use of their God-given skills.”
Their journey from the dusty streets of Zambia to become the very best in women’s soccer is nothing short of miraculous, and surmounting each hurdle they have faced has prepared them for the rigors of the women’s game at the very top.
By reaching the highest summits that women’s soccer has to offer, they have led by example, demonstrating that, with focus and determination, even less prominent soccer nations can succeed.
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