Barbra Banda Crowned BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024

Barbra Banda has been selected as the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year for 2024. Banda, a striker for Orlando Pride and Zambia, was among five finalists nominated for the award in recognition of her accomplishments during the past year. A panel of experts, comprising coaches, players, administrators, and journalists, made the initial selection. No BBC staff members were part of this panel, and the public determined the ultimate winner through voting. To understand more about Banda, BBC Sport examines the 24-year-old’s professional journey and personal narrative to date. In October 2018, Banda made history as the first Zambian woman to compete in European football upon joining Spanish club Logrono, where she subsequently netted 16 goals in 28 appearances. Approximately a year later, in early 2020, she transferred to Shanghai Shengli of the Chinese Super League. During her inaugural season with the team, she secured the Golden Boot, scoring double the goals of the runner-up. This March, Orlando Pride acquired her from Shanghai for $740,000 (£581,000), marking the second-highest transfer fee ever paid for a female player, surpassed only by her Zambian national team colleague, Racheal Kundananji. Concluding her initial season with Orlando, she registered 13 goals during the regular season and an additional four in the play-offs, establishing a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) post-season record, contributing to Pride’s inaugural championship victory. She received a nomination for this year’s Women’s Ballon d’Or and, just last week, was included in the NWSL’s Best XI for the current season. Banda first represented Zambia at the senior international level in 2016. During the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, she achieved a historic feat by becoming the first woman to net two hat-tricks within a single Olympic football competition. In Paris three years later, the Zambian captain netted four goals, which included a first-half hat-trick against Australia, thereby becoming Africa’s leading all-time scorer, across both male and female categories, in Olympic football history, with a total of 10 goals. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she scored a goal in Zambia’s inaugural victory at the tournament. Her goal also represented the 1,000th goal recorded in the Women’s World Cup. Beyond her playing career, she established the Barbra Banda Foundation in Zambia in 2021. This organization endeavors to reduce poverty, advance equality through athletics, and contribute to raising awareness about challenges impacting girls. She has candidly discussed the difficulties of her upbringing as a young girl in Zambia, stating to BBC Sport that it “has never been easy” and that it was “difficult” to enter sports. Over the decade-long history of the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award, Banda stands as one of only three African nominees and is the second African player to claim the title, following Nigerian Asisat Oshoala in 2015. Barbra Banda possesses 63 international appearances for Zambia. In 2022, although initially included in Zambia’s squad for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), Banda was ultimately excluded from the competition due to gender eligibility criteria. The specifics of this decision have not been entirely clarified. The president of the Zambian FA stated at that time that she had taken a gender verification test and did not satisfy the competition’s requirements. Consequently, Zambia withdrew her from the tournament. Reports in 2022 indicated that the test revealed elevated levels of testosterone in her system, a hormone known to enhance muscle mass and strength. BBC Africa reported in 2023 that prior to Wafcon 2022, Banda had used medication to lower her testosterone levels, but these levels had not sufficiently decreased by the commencement of the championship. Subsequently, two sources have informed BBC Sport that Banda did not undergo a gender eligibility test in preparation for the tournament, contrary to the public assertions made by the Zambian FA president at that time. Since that competition, Banda has maintained her club and international career, participating in the 2023 World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympics, in addition to her role with Orlando Pride in the NWSL. Fifa’s regulations concerning gender eligibility were last revised in 2011 and stipulated: “No mandatory or routine gender testing verification examinations will take place at Fifa competitions. It lies with each participating member association to prior to the nomination of its national team ensure the correct gender of all players.” While a “gender verification procedure” could be requested, it must adhere to formal requirements and be substantiated by justifications and proof. In 2022, Fifa declared its intention to review its gender eligibility regulations “in consultation with expert stakeholders.” BBC Sport has reached out to Fifa for an update on this review but has not yet received a reply. Concurrently, the regulations of African football’s governing body, the Confederation of African Football (Caf), mandated that all female athletes undergo a gender verification test before tournaments. Zambia has secured qualification for the upcoming Wafcon, scheduled to be held in Morocco in July 2025. BBC Sport has inquired with Caf concerning its present rules and their potential implications for next year’s tournament, but a response has not been provided. “I do not like to dwell on the past, but I have just to focus on myself,” Banda conveyed to BBC World Service Sport upon receiving her award. She continued, “Whatever has happened in the past, it is the past, I am focusing on the new generation and where I am right now and just to focus on my career and the charity that I do back home in Zambia with a lot of people in the community. So that is my main focus right now.” Banda added, “If I kept on thinking about what was going on in the past, mentally then I would not be where I am right now. But I feel like my mind is that strong and I know where I am coming from.”