Zambia Women’s National team captain Barbra Banda - Photo Courtesy CAF.
Zambia Women’s National team captain Barbra Banda became the first Zambian to win the CAF Women's Player of the Year Award.
Banda beat fierce competition from Morocco’s star striker Sana Mssoudy and Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie to clinch the 2024 award at a glittering ceremony at the Palais des Congres de Marrakech in Hivernage district.
At the same awards ceremony, Banda also made the CAF/FIFPRO Africa XI 2024. The Orlando Pride striker joins South Africans Noko Matlou and Thembi Kgatlana as the only players from Southern Africa to have ever claimed the honor largely won by West Africans. Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala has won it a record six times.
The 2024 CAF Awards covered the period from January to October this year. Banda was recently named the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 and became the first African to be named in the 2024 FIFPRO Women’s World 11, a global recognition determined by votes from 7,000 professional footballers.
At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where she netted four goals for the Copper Queens during the tournament, Banda made history as the first player in women’s football to score three hat-tricks in Olympic Games.
In her debut season in the National Women’s Soccer League with Orlando Pride, Banda was instrumental in her team’s success, scoring 13 goals and six assists during the regular season.
Her impactful performance in the playoffs, including scoring the game-winning goal in the final, earned her the Most Valuable Player (MVP) accolade.
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