Barbra Banda

Voted for Naomi - after reading her bio 👍🏼
Hard choice though

Honestly, any of the women on that list are worth a vote. Aitana Bonmati won the Ballon D'or last year and both she and Caroline Graham Hansen are considered front runners for it this year.

Girma and Smith were both part of the US team that won the Olympic gold medal a few months ago.

I voted for Hansen.

It's a vote. Does anyone know anything about Women's footie? Who should i vote for?

How anyone can look at that picture and not think "huh?" is beyond me.

BBC today. Don't mention the elephant
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/crl82288k2po

They are being mainstreamed into big leagues, like the NWSL (US) now. Banda's team was 7th last year. It's no. 1 since he's joined. It's at the point where it's impacting hundreds of female players in one of the best leagues in the world.

Zambia actually beat Germany in a friendly last year, a team much, much better than them. It was basically Banda outpacing the German women the whole game. Fortunately, Germany figured out how to beat them at the Olympics, but the game against Australia was much closer than it should have been.

The fact that ONE male* on a women's team can have such a huge impact should be enough of warning siren to FIFA that it can't be allowed to continue.

So what % of nominees in the women's category are highly likely perhaps biologically male? 🤬

Temwa Chawinga (see discussion and picture above) is also on the shortlist, well, longlist.

Oh,I don't disagree with your concern at all, @Helleofabore . And the picture might look very different in a few years time.

It is small. But their success is rather disproportionate.

Winning continental awards, highest paid ‘women’ players etc. Some individual countries seem overly reliant on these male players.

I dunno. Males with DSDs and transwomen are surely a tiny proportion (now!). I'm not convinced it's a big problem for FIFA. Sure, a few nations might kick up, and it's more likely to be poorer countries like Zambia than Germany, UK, US. But I don't see that that would have FIFA quaking in their boots.

So, if FIFA ever protects female football there is going to be a melt down from some nations, is my prediction. And a few male people who will have lost their livelihood and fame and will all mysteriously retire.

No wonder FIFA are reluctant. It will rip the supposed ‘talent’ out of some countries. Whether that talent was a male with a DSD or a male who identifies as transgender; FIFA has a sizable male issue in female football.

Unsure whether this is mentioned elsewhere but the lovely Babs has been nominated for the most prestigious award in women's football, the Ballon D'Or 2024.

(Wonder which publicity shot they will use? The pic on Wikipedia appears to show an Adam's apple, though I'm sure it's just unfortunate light.......🤨)

right. the NWSL Chawingwa, on the right of this photo, couldn't be more obviously male. it's not close to being close. the leg muscles alone give it away.

fam.mw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Chawinga-sisters-join-Scorchers-camp.jpg

There are two Chawingas - siblings/twins. The article is about Tabitha, who plays in China.

No, there's nothing wrong with a cheek swab and at least it's private. Making TC strip wouldn't prove anything anyway. So - degrading and pointless. I don't have any information about either of these players having a male DSD, or failing gender verification tests, though. And that probably wouldn't disqualify either of the TCs from women's football if that was the case. We need strict category boundaries and sex screening in all of women's sport - as soon as you get to a certain age/level, it should be mandatory.

What's wrong with the cheek swabs? There's no need for this, surely?

I noticed that neither Banda nor her Zambian colleague Rachel what's it were winning the golden boot race in the NWSL. Vaguely encouraged by this, I googled the name of the girl who is top, a Temwa Chawinga, of Malawi, and...

it looks like World Athletics' tighter rules are having the effect of driving a lot of these DSD athletes into women's soccer.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/aug/06/violation-of-dignity-football-star-had-to-strip-publicly-to-prove-she-was-female

vm.tiktok.com/ZGeTC5rQX/

Christ I'd missed this one. FFS.

That elephant is going to be as large as the Eiffel Tower soon.

An Australian TV presenter?! Blimey!

Missed this, but it's being mentioned in the press again:

'Two Zambian football players who were ruled out of a 2022 tournament because of abnormally high testosterone levels scored five goals in 56 minutes this week against the Australian Olympic women’s team. It has triggered a fresh escalation of the row over athletes with differences in sexual development competing in the female category at the Paris Games, as one Australian TV presenter described the players’ involvement in the Olympics as “the elephant in the room”.'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2024/07/30/banda-kundananji-zambia-football-testosterone-olympics/

Archive: https://archive.is/cQxAk

It seems a bit weird watching this and realising that the vast majority of the world-wide audience are presumably unaware of what's going on.

handmaiden commentators love using inappropriate language to froth over Banda.

e.g. here they interestingly use the phrase 'Banda picks her pocket' rather than, e.g., 'Banda barges her out of the way, it's men against boys here'.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C83ScwnsFZp/?igsh=dWllY2liaDYxY2Zj

I had to pop out, and missed the Zambia goal. But I thought Germany handled Banda comfortably in the first half.

'So powerful, she just glides past people'
Sick making

Just watching it on ZDF, one of the German public broadcasters. Reporter gushing about a male in a female tournament. Might just switch to another live stream.