Racheal Kundananji (born 3 June 2000) is a Zambian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

club

Bay FC Bay Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team began play in the NWSL as an expansion team in the 2024 Nat ...

and the Zambia national team.

Club career

Kundananji's first team was the Konkola Queens, a

Chililabombwe Chililabombwe (formerly named Bancroft) is a small town in Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It is located near the Democratic Republic of the Congo border. The name Chililabombwe means 'place of the croaking frog' in the local language of Lamba. The ...

-based club owned by a local mining company. She worked as a welder while playing for the team.

Indeni Roses, 2018

Kundananji played for Indeni Roses in Zambia's Copperbelt Women League. She scored 21 goals in the 18 games she played helping the team win the league championship.

BIIK Kazygurt, 2019–2021

In 2019 at age 18, Kundananji signed her first professional contract abroad with

BIIK Kazygurt BIIK Shymkent () is a women's association football, women's football club based in Shymkent, Kazakhstan competing in the Kazakhstan women's football championship, Kazakhstan Championship. Formerly established in Almaty as Alma-KTZh, the team won ...

in Kazakhstan and helped the team win back-to-back league championships in 2019 and 2020.

Eibar, 2022

Kundananji signed with

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

in the top-tier Spanish league Primera Iberdrola for the 2021–22 season. In April, she scored her first brace in the league during a 3–2 loss to Tenerife. Kundananji scored 8 goals in 21 appearances for the club.

Madrid CFF, 2022–2024

In August 2022, Kundananji signed with

Madrid CFF Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino (; ''Madrid Women's Football Club'') is a Spanish women's football club based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, that currently plays in Liga F. History Madrid CFF was founded in 2010 by Alfredo ...

. In November, she scored a brace against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. Kundananji was named Madrid's Player of the Month in April 2023 after scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Alhama CF Alhama Club de Fútbol, known as Alhama CF ElPozo or Alhama ElPozo for sponsorship reasons and Alhama Females, is a women's association football club base in Alhama de Murcia. Founded in 2004, it currently competes in the Liga F, the Spanish ...

, a goal against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, and a brace in the 2–1 upset against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. In May 2023, she scored a brace against

Deportivo Alavés Gloriosas Deportivo Alavés Gloriosas is a Spanish Women's association football, women's football team from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, currently playing in the Liga F. It is the women's section of Deport ...

to lift Madrid to a 5–1 win. Kundananji scored 25 goals during the season, ranked second in the league behind only

Alba Redondo Alba María Redondo Ferrer (born 27 August 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga F club Real Madrid and the Spain national team. In January 2024, she ranked 61st on the ''Guardians 2023 list of the 100 ...

with 27. Madrid finished the season in fifth place.

Bay FC, 2024–

On 13 February 2024, it was announced that Kundananji had signed with

for a women's world record transfer fee of £625,000. The deal lasts until 2027, with the option to extend another year. Kundananji made her Bay FC debut as a substitute in the 62nd minute on 30 March 2024, in the team's home debut against the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

. She scored her first goal for the club in the same match, an equalizer in the 93rd minute of an eventual loss. She was the first Zambian to play in an NWSL match as well as the first to score a goal in NWSL.

International career

Kundananji represented

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

at the

2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (officially known as the Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, Ghana 2018) was the 13th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations (formerly African Women's Championship), the biennial international football ...

, the qualifying tournament for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. She scored three goals at the tournament, including a brace against

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

. In 2020, Kundananji competed at the

CAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament The Confederation of African Football (CAF) organizes a quadrennial qualification tournament for African nations to gain entry into the women's tournament at every Summer Olympic Games event since its introduction at the 1996 edition of the Games ...

and helped the team secure their first-ever berth to the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Japan after winning the tournament. Named to Zambia's roster for the Olympics (delayed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

), Kundananji scored a goal and provided an assist on Zambia's third goal against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in a thrilling 4–4 draw. Though the team did not advance out of group stage during their first Olympic tournament, Zambian president

Edgar Lungu Edgar Chagwa Lungu (11 November 1956 – 5 June 2025) was a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister ...

said he was proud of the team: "One word that describes their performance today uesdayis resilience. Despite the red card and a nasty injury to our goalkeeper, the girls remained resilient against a strong opponent. You are the quintessence of hard work, which is the true Zambian spirit." On 6 July 2022, Kundananji, and three other teammates, including striker

Barbra Banda Barbra Banda (born 20 March 2000) is a Zambian professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club Orlando Pride and captains the Zambia women's nat ...

, were ruled ineligible to compete for Zambia in the World Cup-qualifying tournament,

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

, after a gender verification test found that their natural testosterone levels were above those allowed by the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

, which had stricter gender verification rules than the Olympics. The ruling sparked significant controversy, with

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

describing it as a "clear violation" of human rights. On 1 July 2023, Kundananji scored a goal and provided an assist in Zambia's 3–3 draw against #20 FIFA-ranked

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Two days later she was named to Zambia's squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

in New Zealand and Australia. A few days later, she scored a goal against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in a 3–2 upset win against the two-time World Cup champions. On 3 July 2024, Kundananji was called up to the Zambia squad for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Zambia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kundananji goal.''

References

External links

*
Racheal Kundananji
at

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

Racheal Kundananji
at

GOAL A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kundananji, Racheal 2000 births Living people Zambian women's footballers 21st-century Zambian sportswomen Women's association football forwards Zambia women's international footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Liga F players Bay FC players BIIK Kazygurt players SD Eibar Femenino players Madrid CFF players Olympic footballers for Zambia Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Zambian expatriate women's footballers Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate women's footballers in Kazakhstan Zambian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Zambian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States National Women's Soccer League players Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations players