Banda has represented Zambia internationally since 2016. She is Africa's all-time top scorer in Olympic football history, having scored three hat tricks at two Olympic Games. She led Zambia to win 2022 COSAFA Women's Cup, earning the Golden Ball with ten goals.
Early life
Banda was born in Lusaka, the Zambian capital. She began playing football around the age of seven playing on the streets.[2][3] Banda was inspired by her father who played football and would encourage her to practise.[4] She played with boys as the academy she attended did not have a girls team.[5] After her parents became concerned that her focus on the sport was interfering with schooling, she would sometimes sneak out and "throw them (boots) out the window, then go out the door, and they'd think maybe she's just going outside, and then I'd go round to get them."[5]
After being inspired by Zambian professional boxer Catherine Phiri, Banda started boxing around age 14[4] first as an amateur and then after never losing a bout and other amateurs refusing to fight her, she turned professional.[2][6] Banda competed in five professional bouts and won all five before opting to focus on football.[7]
Club career
EDF Logroño, 2018–2019
Banda signed with Spanish first division club EDF Logroño in October 2018 becoming the first woman Zambian footballer to play in Europe.[4] She scored 16 goals in 28 matches with the club.[4]
On 7 March 2024, the National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride announced that they had signed Banda to a four-year contract through the 2027 season.[11] She transferred for a $740,000 fee, the second-highest in women's football history.[12] She made her club debut off the bench in a 1–0 win over the San Diego Wave on 19 April.[13] She made an impressive first start on 26 April, in which she assisted, scored, and drew a penalty in a 3–2 away win over the Washington Spirit.[14] She scored eight goals in her first seven games, tying Sophia Smith for the Golden Boot lead.[15] She was named NWSL Player of the Month for May with seven goals in five games, including three braces.[16] On July 7, she scored her 12th goal of the season to open a battle between the league's last two undefeated teams, the Orlando Pride and the Kansas City Current, which ended as a 2–1 win for the Pride.[17] Orlando won the NWSL Shield by finishing the regular season in first place, collecting the first trophy in club history.[18] Banda's 13 goals in the season were second in the league only to Kansas City's record-setting scorer Temwa Chawinga.[19] On November 8, in the first round of the playoffs, Banda scored two times in a 4–1 win over the Chicago Red Stars.[20]
Banda captained the Zambian squad at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the first time Zambia competed at the international tournament.[21][7] During the team's first group stage match, Banda scored a hat trick against the Netherlands. The match ended 3–10, the worst ever loss for the Zambia women's national football team and the highest-scoring women's football match in Olympics history.[22] In their second group match, Banda scored another hat trick against China with the match ending in a 4–4 draw. She became the first woman footballer in Olympic history to score back-to-back hat tricks and the first to score two hat tricks in one tournament.[23] She is Africa's all-time top scorer in Olympic history.[24][25]
On 6 July 2022, Banda and three teammates including striker Racheal Kundananji were ruled ineligible to compete for Zambia in the World Cup-qualifying tournament, Africa Cup of Nations, after a gender verification test found that their natural testosterone levels were above those allowed by the Confederation of African Football, which has stricter gender verification rules than the Olympics.[26][27][28] The ruling sparked significant controversy, with Human Rights Watch describing it as a "clear violation" of her human rights.[29] In August 2022, following Zambia's third-place finish at the tournament (and despite Banda not being able to compete), she and seven of her teammates were promoted by the Zambian Army with Banda given the highest rank of Sergeant among the group.[30]
In September 2022, Banda led Zambia to win their first 2022 COSAFA Women's Cup, the top women's international football tournament for national teams from Southern Africa[31][32] Her ten goals earned her the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament.[31]
In June 2023, Banda was named to the Zambian squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after being ruled eligible to compete by FIFA in December 2022.[33]
On 7 July 2023, she scored two goals, including the game-winner in the 12th minute of injury time, against #2 FIFA-rankedGermany leading #77 ranked Zambia to an astounding 3–2 upset. Banda was named Player of the Match.[34] Later that month, on July 31, Banda won player of the match in Zambia's first win in a World Cup, which was against Costa Rica.[35][36] In this game Banda scored Zambia's first World Cup goal, which was also the 1,000th goal in Women's World Cup history.[37]
On 9 April 2024, she scored a brace in a 2–0 away victory over Morocco after extra time, which qualified her nation to the 2024 Summer Olympics by winning 3–2 on aggregate.[38]
Other work
In 2021, Banda launched the Barbra Banda Foundation which aims to support programs that promote empowerment for women and girls on issues of economic inequality, gender-based violence, lack of access to equal opportunities, teenage pregnancies, and early marriages using the power of sport. The foundation co-hosts an annual football tournament.[39] On the foundation, Banda said, "Like many, I did not come from a place of abundance and hence I understand what it means to need help and no one willing to help you. I have also experienced how much easier life gets when you have people ready to help you on your path to success."[40]
Banda joined Common Goal in 2019 pledging at least 1% of her salary to a collective fund that supports football charities around the world.[41]
