Testosterone is not a hindrance: a Zambian football player not admitted to the Africa Cup plans to play at the World Cup

“Gender” scandals in sports have become more and more frequent lately.

An unexpected story happened in women's football.

The captain of the Zambian national team and one of the stars of her country, Barbra Banda, was not allowed to participate in the African Cup of Nations - too high testosterone levels were found in the body of an athlete who made a splash at the Tokyo Olympics by scoring a hat-trick against the Netherlands and China.

The results of the tests were not disclosed, however, according to FIFA standards, in women, the amount of this hormone in the blood should not exceed 5 nmol / l.  

The athlete knew about the problems with this indicator after the Tokyo Olympics, where the allowable threshold is 10 nmol / l.

According to the director of public relations of the Football Association of Zambia Sidney Mungala, all the athletes were offered a course of hormones, but they did not really want to take it.

“Our medics contacted the players, but they did not want to go through this

I think there might be side effects.

Since the players did not go down this path and refused, the final decision was the inability to make them into the final list of participants in the competition, ”ESPN quoted Mungala as saying. 

At the same time, according to the expert, the Gang's problems arose primarily due to the fact that the CAF rules are much stricter than in the IOC, and they place too much emphasis on testosterone levels. 

“The Barbra case is just one example, but the bigger picture is to try to see how these rules can affect the situation as a whole, and not just Zambia.

These rules can affect many players, and football is their livelihood,” added Mungala. 

The athlete herself was at first shocked that she would have to transfer the captain's armband to another player.

“Perhaps she suspected that this would happen, but when it happened, she was somewhat disappointed.

It seemed that Barbra was not ready for this or did not expect that she would not be included in the team of 23 players to participate in the tournament, ”admitted Mungala. 

It also became known that Real Madrid, which planned to sign a contract with Banda and even began preparing documents, stopped the transfer.  

Despite being suspended and a failed move to Spain, Barbra found the strength to stay in the African Cup of Nations to support the Zambian team in the tournament.

And the team lived up to her expectations.

Even without the participation of the captain, the girls managed to qualify for the World Championship, which will be held next year.

The players beat Senegal on penalties in the quarter-finals.  

Barbra's joy knew no bounds.  

“Before that, we played at the Olympics, and now we will enter a new, final stage in football.

I am very excited and happy, ”said the athlete.

Interestingly, even with elevated testosterone levels, Banda could perform next year in Australia.

Earlier it was reported that FIFA is currently reviewing the gender selection rules established in 2011.

“The content of testosterone in the blood of women normally does not exceed 7% of its content in adult men.

It affects the formation of almost all organs and systems of a man's body during puberty and in adulthood, ”Marina Kalashnikova, an endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences, professor at the Department of Endocrinology at Sechenov University, explained in an interview with RT.

The same testosterone as in men can only be found in girls with various disorders of sexual development: for example, with androgen insensitivity syndrome.

However, other diseases are more common among female athletes: polycystic ovary syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

In such cases, in athletes, the level of the hormone is higher than the normal female, but lower than the male.

At the same time, even the 5 nmol/l threshold already introduced by FIFA is considered by many experts to be very loyal.

“He is twice the average limit of the norm for the average woman.

If my patient has such a level of testosterone, she will have serious problems: excessive facial hair growth will appear or hair loss on the head will begin in a male pattern, acne and other manifestations of androgenic dermopathy will be disturbed, ”added Kalashnikova.

Thus, the medical service at the African Cup of Nations had reason to doubt Ganga's gender.

However, next year, if restrictions are lifted, it will not matter.

Women's football may open the door for transgender people.