Football player Racheal Kundananji has risen to the position of the most expensive women’s football player in the world just six years after making her debut for team Zambia.
The 23-year-old has left Madrid CFF to sign a $860,000 contract with Bay FC of the American National Women’s Soccer League.
She signed a contract through the 2027 season with an option for an extension for the 2028 campaign, according to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club. She joined Madrid in 2022 from fellow top-tier Spanish team Eibar.
Kundananji became the most expensive female soccer player ever when the San Francisco Bay Area’s new NWSL team paid 785,000 US dollars for her, with an additional 75,000 US dollars, according to local media.
Kundananji, who surpassed the previous female record of £400,000 in a deal between Keira Walsh and Barcelona in 2022, is the first African player—male or female—to break a global transfer record.
She scored three goals for Zambia at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2018, which was a promising start to her career. During her 18 months with Madrid, she has scored 33 Liga F goals in 43 games.
With the six-time African Women’s Footballer of the Year Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria playing alongside the Zambian international, the team will undoubtedly be the talk of the world’s clubs.
