FIFA investigate alleged complaint relating to Zambia at World Cup

It has been reported the alleged incident, said to involve head coach Bruce Mwape, took place during a training session ahead of Zambia's final Group C match against Costa Rica.

The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), however, stressed the organisation had not received any formal complaint from players or officials.

"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.

"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 beat Costa Rica 3-1, but finished third in the group behind Japan and Spain so did not qualify for the knockout phase.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Police said it had not received any formal complaints in relation to the teams competing in the FIFA Women's World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

In a statement about the reported incident, the FAZ said: "All the training sessions for the Copper Queens [Zambia] were filmed by the FAZ media team and offers no such footage.

"Additionally, a FIFA film crew attached to the Zambian team at the World Cup was present at all training sessions.

"We, however, wish to reassure the public that FAZ maintains the highest standards of integrity and transparency and always demands unwavering ethical conduct of the players and officials on and off the field of play.

"We therefore would not hesitate to take disciplinary measures and act on any misconduct once we are in receipt of an official complaint or when presented with evidence pertaining to an alleged incident."

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