Zambia’s coach, Bruce Mwape, has been accused of rubbing his hands over the chest of one of his players two days before his country’s historic victory over Costa Rica in their final match at the Women’s World Cup.
Fifa has confirmed it received an official complaint about the alleged incident after Zambia claimed their first win at a World Cup on Monday in New Zealand. Before the tournament the Guardian revealed Mwape was the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
According to a source close to the squad, several players saw Mwape rubbing his hands over the chest of one of their teammates last Friday after training. “It’s not appropriate for a coach to be touching a player’s breasts,” said the source.
Witnesses are understood to have discussed reporting the incident immediately but decided to wait until after their campaign had been completed over fears that they would not be selected for unsettling the team. Zambia had already been eliminated after 5-0 defeats by Spain and Japan but finished third in the group after the 3-1 victory over Costa Rica.
It is understood the allegation against Mwape was reported to a Fifa delegate who has been with the squad throughout their stay in New Zealand. The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president, Andrew Kamanga, is believed to be aware of the incident.
The FAZ and Mwape did not respond to the Guardian’s questions. A Fifa spokesperson said: “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. We can confirm that a complaint has been received in relation to the Zambian women’s national team and this is currently being investigated. We cannot provide further details regarding an ongoing investigation for obvious confidentiality reasons.
“Anyone who wishes to report allegations or information related to abuse in football can do so via Fifa’s confidential reporting platform, with all information that is submitted to Fifa handled in the strictest of confidence. In addition, Fifa offers support and assistance to ensure the safety of those who report a safeguarding issue, including witnesses who come forward and give testimony in Fifa judicial cases. Where guilt is established, Fifa takes the strongest possible sanctions, including removing people from the game for life. Our track record demonstrates this.”
Mwape was appointed by Zambia in May 2018 and helped them qualify for the World Cup for the first time. The FAZ said in September 2022 that it had referred an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the women’s game to Fifa. Mwape and the under-17s coach Kaluba Kangwa are understood to have been among the FAZ employees who were investigated. Kangwa has left his post despite no official announcement from the FAZ.
“If he [Mwape] wants to sleep with someone, you have to say yes,” one player who did not want to be named told the Guardian last month. “It’s normal that the coach sleeps with the players in our team.”
A Fifa spokesperson told the Guardian last year that it was aware of the accusations against Mwape and has been in touch with the FAZ over the case but could not comment on ongoing investigations.
Mwape has previously denied the accusations. “It has taken about a year now,” he said in New Zealand before Zambia’s first game. “You are still talking about the same allegations. As far as I’m concerned they are fake allegations.”
He was questioned about the allegations last week before Zambia’s second game but a Fifa media officer asked journalists to restrict their questions “to the football and to the tournament only”. Mwape went on to say that “the truth of the matter should actually come out”.
It is also understood that most of Zambia’s players and some members of staff have not been paid since competing at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago despite receiving assurances from the country’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, before the tournament. Some are believed to be owed as much as $60,000 (about £47,000), including a $5,000 win bonus for beating Costa Rica.
Fifa announced last month it would pay every player at the Women’s World Cup at least $30,000 after what the players’ union Fifpro described as the “outcome of tremendous global collective action by over 150 national team players” and months of “constructive negotiation with Fifa”. There are fears among Zambia’s players that they will not receive what they are owed because Fifa will direct the money via the national federations.
“We’ve issued recommendations, but we are an association of associations,” said Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, recently. “So whatever payments we do will be through the associations and then the associations will make the relevant payments to their own players.
“There are different situations in different parts of the world – taxation, residence and so on. I joke sometimes that we can’t artificially print money. If we could, that would be nice, but at the end we can distribute, we can pay what we generate.”
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to advert @ alexa. ng
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.