She Fought Five Pro Bouts to Pay for Football Training — Barbra Banda
From the Boxing Ring to the Football Pitch
Barbra Banda grew up in Lusaka. She loved football but her family could not afford the transport costs to training. At 14, she discovered boxing paid more than enough to cover it. She took up professional boxing while still training as a footballer.
Five Fights, Five Wins
Her boxing record: 5 professional bouts, 5 wins, 4 by knockout. She fought as a bantamweight, earning purses that covered her bus fare to football training. She never saw boxing as a career — it was a means to an end.
The Hat-Trick That Shook the Olympics
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Zambia faced China in the group stage. China was ranked far higher. Banda scored three times — a hat-trick — leading Zambia to a 4–4 draw and the country’s first-ever point in Olympic women’s football.
She scored another hat-trick against the Netherlands, becoming the first woman to score back-to-back Olympic hat-tricks. Zambia lost 10–3, but Banda had announced herself to the world.
Choosing Her Own Path
Banda later signed with Shanghai Shengli in China and then Orlando Pride in the NWSL. She had put boxing behind her. But the story of the girl who fought 5 pro fights to pay for bus fare became part of football folklore.
She did what she had to do to get where she wanted to be.
References
- Olympics.com — Barbra Banda profile
- BBC Sport — “Barbra Banda: The footballer who was also a professional boxer”
- ESPN — “Barbra Banda scores back-to-back Olympic hat-tricks”
- NWSL — Orlando Pride profile