Due to a hip injury, Orlando Pride star scorer Barbra Banda will be sidelined for the remainder of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
The Pride revealed on Saturday that Banda’s right adductor longus tendon had suffered a full thickness avulsion, which indicates that the tendon had completely detached from the bone.
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Zambian international Banda sustained an injury on August 16 while playing for Pride against the Kansas City Current. This season, she scored eight goals.
Banda, who scored the only goal in the Pride’s triumph over the Washington Spirit in the NWSL championship game last year, was named the game’s most valuable player. Last season, she scored 17 goals.
In a statement, Orlando’s vice president of soccer operations and sporting director Haley Carter said, “Barbra has been crucial to our success and losing a player of her caliber is heartbreaking for the entire organization.” We are confident that she will approach her rehabilitation with the same tenacity and professionalism that she applies to all of her endeavors.
Banda, a 2016 Ballon d Or nominee, has been a member of Zambia’s national team. She performed hat feats in the Olympics in Tokyo and Paris last year. She won both the BBC Women’s Football Player of the Year and the African Women’s Player of the Year awards in 2024.
