The Guardian is reporting that FIFA has opened up investigations following allegations claiming a male head coach groped one of his players before a recent game.
According to the publication, soccer’s governing body was informed that Zambian coach Bruce Mwape rubbed his hands over the chest of one of his players prior to a fixture against Costa Rica, with a team source noting that there were several other players in view when this occurred.
“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,” a FIFA spokesperson said to ABC News.
“We can confirm that a complaint has been received in relation to the Zambian Women’s National team and this is currently being investigated. We cannot provide further details regarding an ongoing investigation for obvious confidentiality reasons.”
Zambia failed to secure progression to the knockout stages of the tournament but did record their first-ever WC win this year.
Meanwhile, the country’s Football Association insists it “has not received any such complaint from any of the players or officials in the delegation that traveled to the World Cup.”
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The association’s general secretary also expressed surprise at the reports, adding that all team practices were filmed both independently and by a FIFA crew while the footage hasn’t shown anything to suggest misconduct.
