The head coach of Zambia Women’s national team, Bruce Mwape, was reportedly caught rubbing the chest of one of his players during training at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Raye24reporters gathered that the world football governing body, FIFA, is already looking into a formal complaint of the incident which has been tagged as a sexual assault.
A FIFA spokesperson was quoted as saying, “A complaint has been received”.
“Fifa takes any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously and has a clear process in place for anyone in football who wants to report an incident.”
It was gathered that Bruce Mwape was filmed rubbing the unnamed female player’s chest during a training session in New Zealand on July 29, 2023.
However, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) asserted that “it has not received any such complaint” and that it is a “surprise”.
A statement from the football association added, “All the training sessions for the Copper Queens [Zambia] were filmed by the FAZ media team and offer no such footage.
“Additionally, a Fifa film crew attached to the Zambian team at the World Cup was present at all training sessions.
“We, however, wish to reassure the public that FAZ maintains the highest standards of integrity and transparency and always demands unwavering ethical conduct of the players and officials on and off the field of play.
“We therefore would not hesitate to take disciplinary measures and act on any misconduct once we are in receipt of an official complaint or when presented with evidence about an alleged incident.”
The alleged incident is said to have taken place two days before Zambia’s last group game against Costa Rica, in which they recorded their first Women’s World Cup victory with a 3-1 scoreline.
Despite the victory, Zambia finished third in Group C and was knocked out of the tournament. They have all returned to Zambia.
