Another riot at World Cup participant Zambia: national coach suspected of transgressive behavior | Women’s Soccer World Cup

The allegations against Mwape are made by one of the Zambian players in a conversation with the British newspaper The Guardian. The player, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that those who wanted to keep their place in the selection of the national team had to have sex with the national coach. “If he wanted to sleep with you, you had to agree. It was ‘normal’ that the coach had sex with the players.”

The coach has also been officially charged with sexual misconduct and The Guardian states that the case was already referred to FIFA for investigation last year. According to that report, other Zambian coaches were also accused of sexual misconduct, including the coach of the Under 17 girls’ team.

FIFA does not want to say whether or not an investigation is ongoing. The Zambian police have also been aware of the case for a year. Union chairman Andrew Kamanga recently even called it “an old story”, but at the same time stated that the union takes the allegations seriously and launched its own investigation in September of last year. Other names of accused trainers, besides Mwape, are unknown.

Still, that research by the Zambian Football Association seems to have to be taken with a grain of salt. An anonymous source tells the British newspaper that the federation is currently turning a blind eye to the allegations due to the recent success of the Zambian women’s national team. The team managed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time under Mwape.

Zambia ‘just’ captain Barbra Banda participates in that World Cup. Nothing special in itself, were it not for the fact that the 23-year-old attacker previously failed a gender test. Last year, Zambia had to miss its captain at the Africa Cup. Then, prior to the tournament, very high levels of testosterone – the main male sex hormone – were found in Banda’s blood. She was there at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she made a hat-trick against the Netherlands. The Orange Lionesses nevertheless booked a monster victory: 10-3.

She will therefore also be present at the World Cup, because FIFA allows the participating countries to carry out the investigations themselves. In the German newspaper Image the world football association explained that decision. ,,The participants in the Women’s World Cup assure us that they carry out their own internal investigations and that these clearly prove that all their players are of the female gender.” So also Banda.

Nowadays this involves blood tests or DNA tests, but before the 2011 World Cup, female players had to have their genitals checked by a doctor. Something that former Swedish international Nilla Fischer pointed out in her biography.

That Banda is an important pawn for the Zambian national team, she proved last Friday by scoring twice in an exhibition game with Germany.

The World Cup will start on July 20. Zambia is placed in a group with Spain, Japan and Costa Rica. The Orange Lionesses are in a group with the United States, Portugal and Vietnam.