One of the revelations of women’s football in Africa is the Copper Queens of Zambia, who have enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last few years.
However, the star of the team is 23-year-old forward and skipper Barbra Banda, who plies her trade in China with Shanghai Shengli and has been nothing short of exceptional for Bruce Mwape’s side.
Banda burst onto the scene in the 2020 Toyo Olympics, scoring a hat-trick in their first game against the Netherlands. She went on to bag another trio of goals in the next game, a 4-4 draw against China, to become the first female player in the history of the Olympics to score back-to-back hat tricks and the first to score two hat tricks in one campaign.
At the age of 21 in Tokyo 2020, Banda became the youngest player to score a hat-trick at the Olympics and she also equalled Canadian football legend Christian Sinclair’s single-tournament record of six goals.
Banda’s record-breaking feat didn’t stop there, as she toppled Nigeria’s Mercy Akide-Udoh to become the African women’s footballer with the most goals in the Olympics and subsequently tied the record for most goals scored by an African footballer, male or female, at the Games.
FIFA Museum #BB11 #FIFAWWC #WeAreCopperQueens pic.twitter.com/l9OV2PttXa
— Barbra Banda (@BarbraBanda11) July 4, 2023
The pacy forward currently has her jersey number 11 in the FIFA Museum but she was absent in Morocco for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations due to issues surrounding CAF’s gender eligibility rules.
Albeit that, the youngster is ready to lead the Copper Queens to their first-ever appearance at the biggest edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup .
Zambia qualified as the third-best team from Africa after their bronze medal win at last year’s WAFCON, and they have been drawn in Group C against Spain, Costa Rica, and 2011 winners Japan.
