The head coach of Zambia’s national women’s soccer team, Bruce Mwape, is facing allegations of sexual misconduct less than two weeks before the 2023 Women’s World Cup begins.

The Guardian reported on Saturday that Mwape, who was appointed in 2018, and U17 women’s head coach Kaluba Kangwa have both been accused of sexual misconduct.

“If he [Mwape] wants to sleep with someone, you have to say yes,” an unnamed player told the Guardian. “It’s normal that the coach sleeps with the players in our team.”

Claims of sexual abuse by Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) employees were raised last year. In September 2022, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) said it referred an investigation to FIFA and the police after allegations of sexual misconduct were made on social media, but did not disclose which or how many employees were under investigation.

“Although we have no record of official complaints from anyone on the allegations, we consider these allegations very serious and have opened an inquiry into the matter,” FAZ general secretary, Adrian Kashala, said at the time. “We shall collaborate with the Zambia Police Service and other relevant stakeholders in dealing with this matter.”

The Guardian reported that players have received threats of punishment if they spoke out about the alleged harassment.

In a statement to the Guardian, FIFA said it could not comment on ongoing investigations and that any information the ethics committee decides to share will be communicated at its discretion.

Just Women’s Sports also reached out to FIFA for comment on how the organization handles these types of investigations, what steps (if any) are taken to protect players from retaliation, and whether FIFA still plans to provide Mwape with a credential for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

FIFA said the relevant representative was not immediately available to comment.

Zambia is making its Women’s World Cup debut this summer. In a World Cup tune-up match on Friday, Zambia, ranked 77th in the world, pulled off a major upset against No. 2 Germany thanks to an incredible stoppage time goal from captain Barbra Banda.

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.

FIFA will not allow players to wear rainbow or OneLove armbands in support of LGBTQ+ rights at the 2023 World Cup.

Instead, the world soccer governing body has approved eight alternative armbands highlighting social issues — including a “United for Inclusion” armband featuring a rainbow-colored symbol.

Players were banned from wearing the OneLove armband, which features a rainbow-colored heart, at the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar.

For the women’s tournament, which kicks off in Australia and New Zealand on July 20, the FIFA-approved “inclusion” armband has a heart in the same colors as the OneLove armband. Rather than the colors of the traditional LGBTQ+ Pride flag, the colors pull from the red, black and green Pan-African flag and the pink, yellow and blue pansexual flag, a deliberate distinction.

The seven other armbands messages include:

  • Unite for Indigenous People
  • Unite for Gender Equality
  • Unite for Peace
  • Unite for Education for All
  • Unite for Zero Hunger
  • Unite for Ending Violence Against Women
  • Football is Joy, Peace, Love, Hope & Passion

Team captains can choose to wear a generic “Football Unites the World” armband or one of the eight alternative options throughout the tournament, or they can rotate to wear the armband FIFA has selected for each round.

While FIFA launched a similar armband initiative for men’s World Cup, no armband with OneLove colors was included among the options.

“The statement that was made at the Euros with every team participating was incredible, every picture we have with a trophy lift there’s a rainbow armband in there,” England captain Leah Williamson said earlier this year. “It’s a great stage and a great time to promote the values we believe in so much, so I hope it’s the same (at the World Cup).

“We’re never shy in saying what we stand for, we’re a squad that promotes inclusivity and equality, we obviously have a number of people that feel very strongly about it.”

The sports ministers in five European countries are pushing FIFA and broadcasters to “quickly reach an agreement” on television rights for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which begins on July 20.

In a joint statement, representatives of the five countries — the UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy — expressed concern that an agreement still has not been reached.

“We are convinced that the media coverage of the Women’s World Cup will be decisive in improving the global visibility of women’s sports in our European countries,” the statement read. “Media exposure to women’s sports has indeed a highly significant impact on the development of women’s and young girls’ sports practices.”

Last month, FIFA President Gianni Infantino threatened a TV blackout in those countries, telling the European broadcasters they needed to increase their offers in order to be granted rights to televise the tournament.

“Should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the ‘Big 5’ European countries,” Infantino said at the time.

With less than 50 days until the tournament begins, the lack of broadcast rights deals raises concerns over the quality of coverage broadcasters in those countries will be able to provide — assuming they come to an agreement with FIFA in time. Such rights deals are typically worked out well in advance, allowing broadcasters plenty of time to plan their coverage. For comparison: the BBC’s rights deal for the 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cups was signed in 2014.

While viewership for women’s soccer has soared, especially in recent years, broadcast rights fees have not kept up. In an interview with Bloomberg last year, FIFA Chief Business Officer Romy Gai said that for women’s matches, UK broadcasters pay roughly 2% of what they do for men’s — despite the women’s audience being about 20% of the men’s.

FIFA has pointed to the disparate rights fees as one of the reasons the men’s World Cup prize pool is so much larger than the women’s. FIFA allocated $440 million to teams that competed at last year’s Men’s World Cup, while the prize pool for this summer’s Women’s World Cup is $150 million.

FIFA continues to play hardball with broadcasters, threatening blackouts in European markets if they don’t meet its demands for higher media rights fees for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino criticized European broadcasters Monday for not offering a “fair” price for the tournament.

“It is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” Infantino said in an appearance at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. “Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the ‘Big 5’ European countries.”

That includes England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy — all of which will have teams in the tournament this summer in Australia and New Zealand. (The U.S. broadcast rights are held by Fox as part of an existing agreement with FIFA, which also covers the men’s tournament.)

Infantino called the offers for World Cup broadcast rights made so far by European broadcasters “a slap in the face” not just to players in the World Cup but also women generally.

The tournament is set to begin in less than three months, and it’s set to be the biggest Women’s World Cup to date. For the first time, the tournament has expanded to 32 teams and will be giving out a record $150 million in prize money.

This is not the first time Infantino has criticized media companies for not paying up for a product that he said has proved to be increasingly popular as viewership figures increase. Last year, both Infantino and FIFA rejected initial offers for TV rights, dismissing them as too low.

Noting that broadcasters “pay $100-200 million for the men’s FIFA World Cup,” Infantino said that for the women’s tournament, offers usually come in between $1 million and $10 million.

According to Infantino, “100% of any rights fees” will go straight back into the women’s game “in our move to promote actions towards equal conditions and pay.”

“This is a slap in the face of all the great FIFA Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide,” he said.

According to the New York Times, BBC and ITV have offered one of the highest bids among European broadcasters at $11.2 million as women’s soccer has become increasingly popular in England. Italy, meanwhile, offered about $1 million.

But some are accusing FIFA of helping to create the disparity. Former Australia national team player and ex-FIFA executive Moya Dodd said that the reason the numbers are so low is due to FIFA previously selling the rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups as a bundle, as is still the case in the United States.

In those bundled deals, FIFA attributed all the money to the men’s tournament, which has led broadcasters to overvalue the rights to the men’s tournament and undervalue the women’s.

“Now that FIFA has decided to sell the rights separately, it’s no surprise that the buyers don’t want to pay the same big numbers twice,” Dodd said.

“Effectively, the industry was trained to pay big money for the men’s World Cup and to treat the women’s equivalent as worthless. At the same time, the women were told they didn’t deserve prize money or equal pay because they didn’t bring the revenues. It’s actually quite outrageous. For FIFA to now say that all women’s revenues will go straight into women’s football overlooks the fact that the value of the women’s rights have until now been used to inflate the value of men’s football.”

She says that she would rather see FIFA review all of its bundled deals and funnel some of that money back into the women’s game.

“If in fact the Women’s World Cup gets 50-60% of the viewers of the men’s, as FIFA says, that should amount to a sum in the billions,” she said.

The threat of not broadcasting the tournament in key European markets could do more harm than good, said Rebecca Sowden, a former New Zealand national team player.

“Not broadcasting the games in key European markets would be short-sighted and a massive blow to the wider women’s football ecosystem with fans and sponsors being the biggest losers,” Sowden said. “Instead, FIFA should be working to better educate and demonstrate the value of women’s football, each and every year – as we see in the USA around women’s basketball and other sports – rather than popping out of the woodwork every four years when it’s time for media negotiations.”

After years of waiting, and then an extra week’s delay, the NWSL finally debuted Wednesday in the popular “FIFA 23” video game. But almost immediately, NWSL players began to voice their displeasure with their digital likenesses.

Angel City FC forward Sydney Leroux called out the game regarding her player avatar and those of other players. And while she injected humorous disbelief into her critiques, she made clear that the issue cuts deeper than surface-level jokes.

“I know you expect women to just be thankful and grateful that you’ve given us a little sliver of publicity but please stop wasting our time,” Leroux tweeted. “Some of us are bald.”

The bald player included in Leroux’s post seems to be Canada women’s national team goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan — who at least sports her usual full head of hair in her San Diego Wave avatar, if not in her Canada avatar, as she noted on her own Twitter account.

Leroux’s Angel City teammate Madison Hammond also took issue with her representation in the game.

“Somebody please lmk when they find me, Madison Hammond #99 from Angel City!” she tweeted. “Because this … is simply not it!”

Houston Dash defender Caprice Dydasco posted a photo of herself alongside a screenshot of her avatar to present a stark comparison.

“I’m grateful EA Sports is finally including the NWSL but this does not represent me,” she tweeted.

Dydasco is among a small group of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander players in the NWSL, which makes her avatar even more disappointing.

With so few AAPI players in the league, “it’s really important to be that much more thoughtful and deliberate about appearances,” The Athletic’s Steph Yang tweeted.

Incongruous avatars and player ratings can leave NWSL players feeling like they remain on the outskirts of the soccer community, despite what has been marketed as a milestone for inclusion.

“When EA Sports didn’t put me in the top 10 for speed I was mad but I was like eh we will show them,” Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden tweeted. “But when they gave me a 48 rating in speed I realized they have never and will never actually watch a NWSL game.”

FIFA is increasing the prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup by 300% compared to the 2019 tournament. And equal prize money could be on the horizon.

The international governing body for soccer wants to equalize prize money for the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2027, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Thursday.

For this year’s tournament, prize money will increase from $30 million in 2019 to $150 million total. Of that prize fund, $110 million is pure prize money. Of the rest, $31 million will go toward preparation funds, and $11 million will go toward club benefits.

The 2022 men’s World Cup offered $440 million in prize money.

The announcement came after a group of players from 25 women’s national teams lobbied with global union FIFPRO to push FIFA for equal pay.

“FIFPRO, its member unions, and the players welcome FIFA’s announcement regarding conditions and prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup following a letter signed by FIFPRO and 150 players from 25 national teams calling for change,” FIFPRO wrote in a statement.

“Through the voice and solidarity of players around the world over months and years of campaigning, significant progress has been made in the conditions, prize money, and prize money redistribution for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“The progress announced today demonstrates the intent of the players and FIFA to work proactively towards greater equity and equality for the industry.”

During Infantino’s speech Thursday, the newly re-elected FIFA president said his organization is not holding back equal pay. Instead, he placed the blame with the broadcasters and TV networks who are not offering enough money for the women’s tournament.

In October, FIFA rejected a number of offers for the rights to the World Cup, criticizing them for being “too low.”

Women’s soccer players are calling for equal conditions and prize money at the 2023 World Cup compared to the men’s tournament, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Players from 25 national teams – including the USWNT and fellow previous World Cup winners Germany, Japan and Norway – signed a letter addressed to FIFA president Gianni Infantino last October. In the letter, global players’ union FIFPRO asks FIFA to enact proposals that help to “set a path for women’s footballers to have viable economic prospects through FIFA’s reach, resources, and already stated statutory commitments to nondiscrimination.”

The proposals in the letter, viewed by the Wall Street Journal, include the setting of equal regulations for the men’s and women’s World Cups, encompassing travel, delegation size, training facilities – as well as equal prize money.

Prize money for this year’s World Cup has yet to be announced, although Infantino has said it will be at least double the $30 million given in 2019. Last year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar had a prize pool of $440 million. 

Additionally, players asked FIFA to guarantee that at least 30% of the World Cup prize money will be given to players “so that our sport continues to develop professionally.”

Many players’ national federations do not have a deal in place that ensures players get a percentage of the prize money when they win. 

A FIFA spokesperson did not address the contents of the letter but told the Wall Street Journal in a statement: “Accelerating the growth and development of women’s football on and off the pitch is a top priority for FIFA. To do so, FIFA is investing significant time and resources in the following areas: reforming competitions; enhancing the game’s commercial value; modernizing women’s development programs; and, enhancing the professionalization of women’s football, both on and off the pitch.”

Sophia Smith addressed her FIFA rating on Friday, breaking it down. 

She called her pace stat, which sits the highest at 95, as “accurate.” But other ratings – like her shooting — sit a little bit lower.

“Maybe the reason my shooting is 84 is ‘cause I shoot all the time,” she said. “Like any chance I get to shoot, I shoot. You take the average from that and maybe it’s a little lower, but I think you’ve gotta shoot to score.”

Her passing, however, sits at 78 to which she just said “I’m a forward.” But her dribbling she would like to see higher. 

With defense at 46, Smith said she knows her “defending could definitely be better.”

While Smith is quite analytical in her breakdown, other players like Sydney Leroux had a more brutal breakdown courtesy of her own son.

FIFA may scrap its plans for a Visit Saudi sponsorship for the 2023 Women’s World Cup following backlash from the tournament co-hosts and star players. 

Australia and New Zealand, the countries set to host the World Cup starting in July, both have criticized the potential sponsorship, as have some of the game’s biggest stars – including U.S. women’s national team stars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.

“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” Rapinoe told reporters during the SheBelieves Cup. “If they want to do, like, a 20-year-long women’s empowerment project and in 2043 sponsor a World Cup, that would be something. But I think it kind of just further proves the corruption and the thought process of FIFA.

“I’ve said for a long time, I don’t think FIFA really truly cares about the women’s game the way that it cares about the men’s game.”

Morgan referred to FIFA’s consideration of the sponsorship with Visit Saudi, the official Saudi Arabia tourism agency, as “bizarre.”

The scale of the backlash “has shocked FIFA,” a source familiar with the tournament’s planning told told the Sydney Morning Herald.

New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell believes FIFA was rethinking the deal based on a response to his federation’s letter pushing back against the sponsorship, he said.

“I found the response fairly ambiguous. It didn’t confirm nor deny the potential Visit Saudi sponsorship that has been reported in the media,” Pragnell told New Zealand media Friday. “It did allude to the importance of treating all member associations equally and the importance of engagement as opposed to isolation. Other than that, it stated that they’d be reaching out through their media and partnerships team for further conversations.

“We’re left in a little bit of uncertainty as to what’s going on here, to be frank, which is a bit disappointing. Anything further I say would be speculation because I don’t know, but clearly our letter, given the delay in the response, and the absence of confirmation or denial, has caused some form of rethink in FIFA about this issue.”

One possible outcome of going through with the sponsorship could be in-game protests, similar to those seen at the men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has pointed to those protests as a “learning” experience.

“What we will try to do better this time is to search and look for dialogue with everyone involved – the captains, the federations, the players generally, FIFA – from all over the world to capture the different sensitivities, to explain, to exchange, and to see what can be done in order to express a position, a value or a feeling that somebody has without hurting anyone else,” he said.

“In a positive way, we are looking for a dialogue and we will have a position in place well before the Women’s World Cup, I hope so.”

France women’s national team coach Corinne Diacre remains in limbo after three top players refused to play for their country in the upcoming World Cup under the “current system.”

While she was expected to step down from her post on Tuesday, as The Times reported Monday, the resignation of French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët has halted plans regarding Diacre’s fate. Her future with the team will be decided at a March 9 meeting of the FFF executive committee.

Le Graët had served as FFF president since 2011 but resigned in the wake of sexual harassment and bullying allegations surfaced. In his absence, the executive committee will appoint a small group from among its members to consider Diacre’s case, French newspaper L’Equipe reported.

The furor over Diacre’s leadership came to a head last Friday, as France captain Wendie Renard and star forwards Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani all cited issues with Les Bleues management in their decisions to step away from the national team. Both Katoto and Diani called for “necessary changes” as a prerequisite for their return to the team.

The World Cup is set to kick off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

In response to the players’ statements, the FFF announced that its executive committee would address the issue at its meeting Tuesday. “The FFF would like to remind that no individual is above the Équipe de France institution,” the statement said.

Diacre has coached the France senior national team since 2017, but she has been involved in a number of controversies in her tenure. For example, she stripped Renard of her captaincy in 2017 before reinstating her as captain in 2021. She also left Katoto off the 2019 World Cup squad.