Zambia forward Barbra Banda is eligible to play at next year’s Women’s World Cup, says a leading Fifa women’s football official, BBC Sports report.

“We are looking forward to welcoming her to Australia and New Zealand next year to participate,” Sarai Bareman, Fifa’s chief women’s football officer, told BBC Sport Africa.

Faz has previously said it excluded its best player from the finals given its understanding of a medical form the Confederation of African Football (Caf) adopted from Fifa.

• Banda back ‘with a bang’ for Zambia after eligibility row
• Banda out of Wafcon over ‘gender eligibility’ issues

However, these rules – which prompted Faz, rather than Caf, to exclude Banda from the Wafcon – are now being revised.

“Fifa is currently reviewing our gender eligibility regulations – we’re in a consultation process right now,” Bareman explained.

“My team is obviously a big part of that consultation process and in the coming months, you’ll see a new set of regulations come out of Fifa as many sports are also looking at their own regulations.”

Banda shot to global prominence at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo when she became the first female player to score consecutive hat-tricks in the Games’ long history.

After sitting out Wafcon, she returned to the national team in September and helped Zambia win a regional southern African title for the first time, emerging as both the top scorer and best player of the tournament.

Football’s world governing body estimates the new guidelines for gender eligibility will be released before the 2023 Women’s World Cup but it remains non-committal on whether gender testing will be a mainstay of the women’s game going forward.

“It’s a very complex topic and there are many, many people who have their views on it,” Bareman explained.

“As Fifa, our role is to take all those views into consideration, because we really have to understand every view – the research, evidence, individual situations, the human rights side of things – and we have to factor all of that in before we can take any decisions.

“It’s a big decision, and it’s going to have a big impact for many people.”

During July’s Wafcon in Morocco, Faz said three other potential squad members were also affected by gender eligibility criteria and were thus not chosen to compete at the tournament.

World Cup expansion to ‘drive other countries’

Alongside Morocco, Zambia is one of five countries which will make their Women’s World Cup debut in the 2023 tournament, which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

After expanding next year’s finals from 24 to 32 teams, Fifa’s Bareman believes the tournament’s growth will boost the development of women’s football in Africa.

“It’s only positive from here,” Bareman rallied.

“Look at Zambia – when a country like that qualifies for the first time ever, the flow-on effect for the game in the country is massive. They did so well at the Olympics as well – other countries see that and you can’t underestimate the competitive value in Africa.

“The expansion has really helped and will continue to drive other countries.”

Led by champions South Africa alongside perennial qualifiers Nigeria, debutants Zambia and Morocco make up Africa’s four representatives at the finals.

Senegal and Cameroon have a chance to make it six teams for the continent when they compete in next year’s inter-continental play-off to determine the last three teams to qualify for the June-August finals.

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The group stage draw for the 2022-23 CAF Champions League was confirmed on Monday afternoon in Cairo as familiar foes reunited again.

Group B will see an almost familiar line up to last season with record champions Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns and Sudan’s Al Hilal drawn together once again. They will be joined in the group by Cameroon’s Cotonsport.

During the competition last term, they were drawn in Group A where Sundowns finished the group unbeaten, hitting Ahly home and away.

Defending champions Wydad Athletic Club have been drawn in Group A and are also re-uniting with a side they face in the group stages last year, Petro de Luanda. They lost to the Angolan giants in Luanda, but had revenge with a massive 5-1 victory in the corresponding tie in Casablanca.

They will be joined in the group by Congolese side AS Vita Club and Algeria’s JS Kabylie, both of who are returning to the group phase after a long spell out.

Group C will meanwhile see an interesting East African battle with Simba SC of Tanzania drawn together with Ugandan debutants Vipers SC. They are joined in the group by Morocco’s Raja Club Athletic and Guinea’s Horoya.

Group D will meanwhile play host to some tantalizing North African derbies, with Tunisia’s Esperance, Egypt’s Zamalek and Algeria’s CR Belouizdad all drawn together. Joining them in the group is Sudan’s El Merrikh.

The group phase will kick off in February, just after the conclusion of the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Algeria in January.

The matches will be played according to the following schedule: