Superstar in Zambia: Racheal Kundananji from Zambia
Foto: imago/Zuma
She is unmistakable on the pitch, and not just because of her white-blonde hair: When Racheal Kundananji from Zambia starts sprinting, every opponent looks old. The 23-year-old striker simply outruns almost all the defenders, and if that alone isn’t enough, she also throws in a catch or two: at the latest, she has free space for a well-placed shot on goal – successfully completed 33 times for Madrid CFF in the Spanish league since autumn 2022.
At the beginning of this week, the national player made international headlines: From now on, Racheal Kundananji will play for the newly founded Bay FC from San Francisco’s Bay Area. The US club, which was financed with the equivalent of 52 million euros, is said to have paid 800,000 euros for her move. This makes the Zambian the most expensive female footballer of all time.
Kundananji will benefit from the US National Women’s Super League’s new television contract. The league will earn $240 million for TV rights over the next four years. For comparison: the women’s Bundesliga receives around five million euros in TV money every year.
Racheal Kundananji: The wonder Woman of Zambian Football! | the ZMB Talks
The ZMB Talks
Racheal Kundananji vowed to use the transfer to become even better: “I want to show all women that you can always get better – with hard work!” With talent and ambition, she worked her way from the poor Copperbelt region of Zambia to the Professional football. She played with boys her own age, then in Copperbelt women’s teams, before going to BIIK Kazygurt in Kazakhstan in 2019. There the club SD Eibar discovered her and brought her to Spain.
She has long been shining in the national team and played with Zambia at the Olympics and World Cup. The DFB women taught Zambia the fear of the 2023 World Cup test in Fürth. Zambia won 3-2, and of course: Racheal Kundananji also scored.
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