Banda dazzled on the Olympic stage this summer, and her profile has hit new heights since signing with Orlando Pride in March

Barbra Banda has been voted BBC women’s footballer of the year but, despite being a cis woman, she is being transvestigated. The Orlando Pride and Zambia striker was one of five players shortlisted by a panel of experts for the award and it was announced on Tuesday (26 November) that she had garnered the most votes from readers of the BBC Sport website.

It has reached the stage where women are perfectly entitled to feel they are being trolled. The failure of Barbra Banda to meet sex eligibility rules is not in question: indeed, Andrew Kamanga, president of the Zambian football association,