大象传媒

Barbra Banda has been a key figure in women鈥檚 football, representing Zambia at two Olympic Games, competing in the 2023 FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup, and playing professionally for Orlando Pride in the United States, making her fully eligible for nomination. Her achievements over the past year were assessed by an expert independent panel of current and former professionals, coaches, and journalists, who created a shortlist of five players based on their performances. The final winner was chosen through a global public vote. It is important to note that the same process has been used for all 10 years that the Women鈥檚 Footballer of the Year has been running.

We acknowledge that questions have been raised about eligibility. In our profile of Banda, we reported on the events of 2022 when she was initially selected to represent Zambia at the African Cup of Nations but then later was not included. What exactly happened is contested and there are conflicting reports. We reported about this at the time on the 大象传媒 and did so again here:

/sport/football/articles/c3e8d344vndo.

Eligibility to participate in women鈥檚 football is the responsibility of FIFA and the football authorities. In the light of this case in 2022 FIFA said it was carrying out a review of its gender eligibility policy but as we reported this week, there has been no sign of progress with that review and FIFA did not reply to our attempts to find out what was happening.

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