FIFA investigation into Zambian women’s football coach allegations of sexual harassment
Controversy is brewing after an allegation that the coach of the Zambia women’s national soccer team, which participated in the World Cup, sexually harassed a player. The British reported on the 5th (Korean time) that Zambia coach Bruce Emwafe, who participated in the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, is accused of touching a player’s chest during training.
The International Football Federation (FIFA) said, “The report was received after Zambia won its first World Cup final victory against Costa Rica in the final group stage match on the 31st of last month.” “We take this very seriously and are investigating.” 안전놀이터 According to reports, coach Mwafe touched a player’s chest during training on the 28th of last month, which several other players witnessed. Witnesses tried to report Mwafe’s sexual harassment immediately, but waited patiently until Zambia’s match schedule was over before reporting it to FIFA, fearing that the national team would be agitated while the World Cup was not over Zambia was eliminated early after losing 0-5 to Japan and Spain in Group C group stage.
This isn’t the first time director Mwafe has been embroiled in a sexual scandal. In September of last year, he also demanded sex from players as a condition of allowing them to play, and was actually accused of sexually assaulting players several times. A Zambian women’s soccer player, who requested anonymity, said, “If coach Mwafe wants to sleep, I have no choice but to say ‘yes’.” At the time, the Zambia Football Association launched an investigation, but no charges were found, and coach Mwafe refuted that it was “fake allegations.”
However, some criticize that the Zambia Football Association is turning a blind eye to the allegations against coach Mwafe, who has achieved outstanding results. Coach Mwafe, who took office in 2018 for five years, led Zambia to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics finals, and this year also succeeded in advancing to the Women’s World Cup finals for the first time and won the first victory, opening the heyday of Zambian women’s football. Again this time, Andrew Kamanga, president of the Zambia Football Association, said, “We have never received such a report from the national team players or officials participating in the World Cup.”
“A FIFA official attended all of the Zambian national team’s training during the World Cup,” he said. FIFA said, “We encourage anyone who has information about this incident to report it,” and “We promise to keep the information confidential.”