Zambia and Orlando Pride’ striker Barbra Banda was recently named as BBC’s Women’s Footballer of the Year award winner for her heroics in 2024.
At the age of 24, she is already Africa’s all-time leading goal-scorer in Olympics history and scored 17 goals in 25 appearances for the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) side in the year.
She helped them win the NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield titles, which enabled her to win this award over the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati. Banda’s success has rubbed some people the wrong way. The way she looks and some past controversies have sparked a lot of talk on her gender.
Following Banda’s, famed Harry Potter author JK Rowling was one of many personalities to slam the BBC’s decision to grand this award to Banda. They complain that this is offensive for the other top-class female footballers as there is a general feeling among some people that Banda is actually biologically a male.
This working ‘theory’ for the likes of Rowling or other football fans that the 24-year-old is actually a man is based on rumours that Banda failed a gender test for the Africa Football Association (CAF) in the past.
There are wild speculation that she could not join Real Madrid’s Femini side in the past because of the inability to give proof of being a female footballer.
But a lot of these ‘theories’ are just made-up speculation in an effort to demean Bandra just because of how she has meager masculine features about her.
Despite all the hatred from people alleging that she’s failed gender tests in the past and actually has male hormones, there is no real proof about that ever happening.
A lot of questioning around Bandra’s gender stems from back in 2022, when she was left out of Zambia’s squad for the WAFCON (Women’s Africa Cup of Nations) tournament.
Some speculation emerged that she had failed a gender test, but FIFA and CAF have since reiterated that the Zambian footballer was never made to undergo any such test.
The reason why she wasn’t selected for the tournament is simply because the officials found elevated levels of testosterone in her body. Even though this element is generally secreted in a male person’s body, the females also produce small amounts in the ovaries and adrenal glands.
For a normal women, the amount of testosterone in their body ranges from 15–70 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) In Bandra’s case, this ‘small’ amount of testosterone is slightly higher than it normally should be – but it’s naturally being created in her body.
There has been no proof that she’s ever taken any testosterone supplements to ‘boost’ herself up. She was only omitted from the 2022 WAFCON because the officials urged her to take medicine that would lower her testosterone levels, but Bandra refused to do that, citing worrying side affects.
Normally, higher level of testosterone is frowned upon for female sports athletes because the element helps one grow more muscle that helps with force-generating capacity, more strength and greater endurance for the athletes.
In Bandra’s case, her testosterone levels generate higher than normal women and that helps in her athletic ventures. She has not been forced to undergo gender tests in the NWSL because the league simply doesn’t make anyone go through it. There is no proof that she’s ever been made to undergo one in Africa and there have been confirmed reports showing her to be a male person.
The criticism towards Bandra is even more hypocritical knowing that many people are doing so without even knowing about her in the past or her achievements. Moreover, it’s not like the BBC organizers gave this award to her, as their Women’s Footballer of the Year award is based on a fan-voting system.
In many ways, the witch-hunt towards the Zambian footballer is similar to what Algerian boxer Imane Khelif had to face after her heroics in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Khelif won a gold medal in boxing, but earned a lot of backlash for being a man – based on her appearance.
Like Khelif, Bandra can’t really control how she looks or plays football and can only ignore this all social media chatter about her and focus on winning the Ballon d’Or in the near future.