Bruce Mwape: Zambia FA ‘stunned’ over misconduct claims in opposition to girls’s crew head coach

Zambia’s soccer affiliation has stated it’s “surprised” by misconduct claims made in opposition to girls’s crew head coach Bruce Mwape.

It comes after allegations, first reported by The Guardian, that the supervisor had rubbed his arms over the chest of one of many gamers days earlier than Zambia’s Women’s World Cup win over Costa Rica.

FIFA confirmed to the newspaper that it had acquired a grievance and that it had opened an investigation.

However, The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) stated in a press release that it had not acquired a grievance from “any of the players or officials” in its World Cup delegation.

“It has therefore come as a surprise for us to hear of such alleged misconduct by the coach as reported in the said online publication,” stated FAZ General Secretary Reuben Kamanga.

“As a matter of truth, all of the coaching periods for the Copper Queens had been filmed by the FAZ media crew and presents no such footage as envisioned by The Guardian.

“Additionally, a FIFA film crew attached to the Zambian team at the World Cup was present at all training sessions.”

Mr Kamanga stated that the FAZ “always demands unwavering ethical conduct of the players and officials on and off the field of play”.

“We therefore would not hesitate to take disciplinary measures and act on any misconduct once we are in receipt of an official complaint or when presented with evidence pertaining to an alleged incident,” he added.

A FIFA spokesperson instructed Sky News: “FIFA takes any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously and has a clear process in place for anyone in football who wants to report an incident.

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“We can verify {that a} grievance has been acquired in relation to the Zambian Women’s National crew and that is presently being investigated.”

Mwape, who has been the pinnacle coach of Zambia’s girls’s crew since May 2018, confronted allegations of sexual misconduct earlier than the World Cup.

A earlier report in The Guardian claimed Mwape was the topic of an investigation by the Zambian FA – an investigation which has been referred to FIFA and the police.

Zambian soccer affiliation president Andrew Kamanga described them as “an old story”.

Mwape beforehand denied the accusations, which he addressed earlier than Zambia’s first Women’s World Cup sport final month.

“It has taken about a year now,” he stated in New Zealand.

“You are still talking about the same allegations. As far as I’m concerned, they are fake allegations.”

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Earlier, FIFA shut down journalists’ questions in regards to the sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to Mwape.

At a query and reply session with Mwape forward of the nation’s match in opposition to Spain, one reporter requested what impact the investigation into the allegations had on Zambia’s picture.

A media officer for the soccer organisation stopped the Spanish journalist and stated: “I’ll ask you to restrict the questions to the football and the tournament only, for this press conference. I’ll go to the next question.”