After missing the 2022 edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) due to a failed gender eligibility verification as claimed by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), it is still unclear if Barbra Banda will play at next year’s tournament.
The 23-year-old Shanghai Shengli forward who captained the Copper Queens at this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup was said to have failed to meet the criteria required by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) whose gender rules defer from Fifa.
However, CAF president Patrice Motsepe expressed ignorance about the claims by FAZ..
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga was not pleased with the response.He told the BBC that “whatever happened was purely a Caf requirement.”
Kamanga added, “We, the federations, are compelled to undertake the tests and then we pass on the information to Caf, and Caf, equally, tests the players if they need to be in the tournament. So it will be unfair to turn around and say Caf is not part and parcel of whatever has transpired.”
What’s next for Barbra Banda’s WAFCON dream?
FAZ tells BolaNews that only CAF can advise about the tournament’s gender eligibility rules at the moment.
The federation’s communications director Lux September said last year that there was “no such decision from the Caf medical committee” in reference to CAF disqualifying Banda.
BolaNews understands that another player who suffered the same fate as Banda last year was in-form Spain-based striker Racheal Kundananji.
Zambia who finished third in Group C at the World Cup will face Angola on November 27, 2023, in the first leg of their WAFCON qualifying campaign.
READ MORE: Why Barbra Banda’s move to Real Madrid failed
Banda and Kundananji will be expected to lead the team’s attack just like in the 2022 WAFCON qualifying campaign.
The 2024 WAFCON is set to take place in July in Morocco.
