Zambia and Orlando Satisfaction ahead Barbra Banda has been voted BBC Girls’s Footballer of the 12 months.
She acquired probably the most votes from readers of the BBC Sport web site after a was introduced final month.
The shortlist – primarily based on performances from September 2023 to August 2024 – was chosen by a big panel of specialists concerned in soccer all over the world, together with coaches, gamers, directors and non-BBC journalists.
“I’m shocked and shocked to have this award proper by my aspect,” the 24-year-old instructed BBC Sport.
“I want to thank the individuals who voted and everybody who has performed a component in my life and my profession – my household, my nationwide staff in Zambia and particularly the Satisfaction staff. It’s for everybody.”
Banda scored 4 objectives for Zambia on the Paris Olympics this summer time, together with a first-half hat-trick in opposition to Australia, to change into the main African goalscorer in Olympic historical past with 10.
She scored 13 objectives for Satisfaction in 2024 NWSL common season, regardless of solely becoming a member of in March.
Spain and Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati got here second within the voting, whereas USA and Portland Thorns ahead Sophia Smith completed third.
Norway and Barcelona winger Caroline Graham Hansen and USA and San Diego Wave defender Naomi Girma have been additionally on the shortlist.
Banda turned the second-most costly girls’s signing in historical past – behind Zambia team-mate Racheal Kundananji – when she joined Satisfaction from Chinese language membership Shanghai Shengli $740,000 (£581,000) in March.
“My intention all the time is to attain as a result of I like scoring,” stated Banda. “Nevertheless it all begins from apply, having good coaching periods and good talks with the coaches and team-mates.
“It has not been simple however I feel exhausting work and consistency has actually helped.”
The Zambia captain, who got here twelfth within the 2024 Girls’s Ballon d’Or, is a former skilled boxer who gained all of her 5 bouts earlier than switching focus to soccer.
“Rising up in Zambia has by no means been simple, particularly as a younger woman. It’s so tough for us to get into sport like soccer,” she stated.
“Dad and mom by no means used to imagine that girls may play soccer so it was a problem.
“My mum was not in help of it, however when girls’s soccer began being recognised in Zambia she got here to grasp and let me do what I like doing most.”
Satisfaction head coach Seb Hines instructed BBC Sport: “It’s nice to see Barbra getting acknowledged for what she has performed, not just for our membership however for African soccer.
“She is tremendous humble and a superb particular person and meaning quite a bit to us to have good individuals in our staff.
“She is a staff participant and, for all the accolades that she has gained and all the goalscoring data that she has, she places the staff first.”
