Pressure is building on the National Women’s Soccer League to implement sex testing amid mounting criticism over a star player suspected of being male.
Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda, 25, was back in the spotlight this week after being named for the second time to the women’s 2025 FIFPRO World 11, an international all-star team chosen by players, reigniting the debate about the Zambian-born athlete’s gender.
A slew of women’s sports advocates called foul on Banda’s selection, including Jennifer Sey, CEO of XX-XY Athletics, who said Tuesday on social media: “It isn’t hateful to state the truth. Banda is male. Women’s sports are for women only.”
The NWSL rushed to Banda’s defense, congratulating the athlete and praising “her extraordinary talent.”
“Any harassment or hateful attacks toward Barbra are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, league or our communities,” said NWSL in a Tuesday statement. “We stand unequivocally with Barbra and with every NWSL player.”
It wasn’t the first time the league has stood by Banda since the Orlando Pride signed the athlete last year in a blockbuster four-year deal despite red flags on gender dating back to the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, where the athlete was ruled out after failing a sex-verification test.
The African soccer federation found that Banda’s naturally occurring testosterone exceeded the limit for the women’s category. Banda and three other athletes were reportedly offered the option of taking testosterone-reducing medication, but declined.
Enlisting Banda has already paid off for the Pride. The athlete, who previously played for leagues in Africa, Europe and China, led the team to the 2024 NWSL title and won MVP honors.
Banda also competed on the Zambian national women’s soccer team at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games under different sex-eligibility rules. The hard-striking forward scored three hat tricks in the two Olympiads, becoming the only player, male or female, to do so.
Whether Banda qualifies under the NWSL’s gender-eligibility rules is unknown — because the league doesn’t appear to have any rules.
As recently as 2021, the league let transgender athletes participate as long as they kept their testosterone “within the typical limits for female athletes,” but the policy has since disappeared and nothing has taken its place, according to Britain’s Guardian.
Angel City FC veteran Elizabeth Eddy drew attention to the issue last week by calling for the league to adopt “a clear standard” on gender eligibility that could include sex testing, which is typically done with a cheek swab.
“This uncertainty serves no one, as questions and controversy abound over intersex and transgender athletes,” said Eddy in an Oct. 27 op-ed in the New York Post.
The athlete’s Angel City teammates denounced the call for genetic testing at a subsequent press conference, calling Eddy’s stance “transphobic and racist.”
“The article calls for genetic testing on certain players, and it has a photo of an African player as the headline, and that’s very harmful,” said Angel City captain Sarah Gorden. “To me it’s inherently racist because to single out this community based on them looking or being different is absolutely a problem.”
The DSD athlete whose picture is shown in the article, Barbra Banda, is male. He plays for the Orlando Pride in the NWSL and for the Zambia national team. It is racist, according to the Angel City FC, because Banda is black. Which of course has nothing to do with anything. Banda… pic.twitter.com/sGHwq9wkR8
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) November 3, 2025
Eddy’s op-ed didn’t mention Banda, who has consistently identified as female, not transgender or intersex.
That said, there is speculation that Banda has a Difference in Sexual Development in which infants are born with ambiguous genitalia and often raised as girls, but have undescended testes and produce male-level testosterone at puberty.
At least four African track athletes who have won women’s Olympic medals are believed to have the condition, and one of them, 2016 Olympic silver medal runner Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, has confirmed it.
World Athletics, the global track-and-field authority, announced in July that athletes seeking to compete in the female category must undergo a “once-in-a-lifetime test for the SRY gene — a reliable proxy for determining biological sex,” which can be done through a cheek swab or blood test.
An NWSL spokesperson referred to the players’ union when asked whether the league would adopt gender-verification standards.
“We are committed to working directly with the NWSL Players Association on any changes to our league policies,” said the spokesperson in an email. “This ensures that the voices of our players are central to our process and reinforces our commitment to inclusion, trust, and transparency.”
The Orlando Pride cheered Banda in a Tuesday statement as a “superb teammate, player and role model,” while critics drew comparisons to the two sex-disputed boxers who won women’s gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s like the women’s Olympics boxing scandal all over again,” said XX-XY Athletics in a post. “And appears, the powers that be are going to try to defend it, just like IOC initially did. But wrong is wrong. Women deserve better. Simple sex test.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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