Barbra Banda

Barbra Banda is a Zambian professional footballer, born on 20 March 2000. She plays as a striker for Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and captains the Zambia national team.

ESPN ranked Banda No. 9 in its top 50 women's players of 2025, the IFFHS also placed her ninth in its Women's World Best Player list, and she is on the 30-player shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or Féminin. ESPN noted that her 2025 season was cut short by an injury in August and that her absence showed how important she is to Orlando. It described a forward who can both hold the ball up and run in behind, one of few players whose presence "completely changes" how opponents prepare.

Banda is Africa's all-time top scorer in Olympic football, with three hat-tricks across two Games, and she won the Golden Ball with ten goals as Zambia took the 2022 COSAFA Women's Cup. In 2024 she was named African Women's Footballer of the Year and BBC Women's Footballer of the Year and was included in the FIFPRO Women's World 11. She joined Orlando in 2024 for what was then the second-highest fee in women's football and in her first season won the NWSL Shield and the NWSL Championship, where she was the final's MVP.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · ESPN · IFFHS · France Football / L'Équipe