Striker (Alternate): Barbra Banda 

Why we picked Banda

On and off the pitch, Banda is a playmaker. Born in Lusaka, the Capital of Zambia, she started playing soccer when she was seven years old in the street, and later played on the boys team at her school, as they didn't have a girls team. In her early career before she pursued professional Football, she was a Professional Boxer and won 5 professional bouts before turning her focus to soccer. Band has made herself well known in the States as she signed with Orlando Pride early in 2024, while she previously played in the Chinese Super League. Career wise, she is most notably, Banda has been known for her back-to-back hat trick in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Personally, Banda has struggled to get to where she is today and has made it her mission to help others in need. She has said " Like many, I did not come from a place of abundance and hence I understand what it means to need help and no one willing to help you. I have also experiences how much easier life gets when you have people ready to help you on your path to success", in an effort to explain the founding of her foundation (Barbra Brand Foundation), which empowers and educates young women and girls on issues of social inequality, gender-based violence and early marriage through lessons of sports. Banda has also brought attention to issues of gender discrimination, as she was deemed ineligible for the African Cup of Nations in 2022 due to a gender verification rule that capped testosterone levels. While we have selected Banda as an alternate, her powerful force on and off the field is not to be underestimated this summer in Paris.