Razeen Gutta
The ban on Zambia captain Barbra Banda for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) has sparked confusion after she failed gender eligibility tests.
Banda, 22, was allowed to participate in last year’s Olympic Games, but she has failed to meet Fifa’s required criteria in order to participate at Wafcon.
The Zambian FA (FAZ) has blamed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for her exclusion and stated that the inconsistency of the rule needs addressing.
“All the players had to undergo gender verification, a CAF requirement, and unfortunately she did not meet the criteria set by CAF,” FAZ president Andrew Kamanga told BBC Sport Africa.
“The elephant in the room is to deal with this issue of gender verification, which seems to be discriminatory, in the sense that you seem to have it in this competition [but not others].”
CAF, however, have denied that the striker’s exclusion came from them, with communications director Lux September saying that “there is no such decision from the CAF medical committee”.
Kamanga responded to these claims, saying “It will be unfair to turn around and say CAF is not part and parcel of whatever has transpired.
“It’s unfortunate that we find ourselves going into the tournament without our best players.
Whatever happened was purely a CAF requirement.”
“We the federations are compelled to undertake the tests and then we pass on the information to CAF, and they, equally, test the players if needs be in the tournament.”
Banda currently plays her club football with Chinese side Shanghai Shengli but a move to the Spanish top flight is reported to be close.
Image source: @Goal
