World Cup football sisters accused of being men

Two players from the Equitorial Guinea women’s team have been dropped after their Ghanaian opponents accused them of being men. Just ahead of the Women’s World Cup in Germany later this month, Salimata and Bilguisa Simpore have been omitted from the national squad in the wake of a victory over Ghana that the losing side believe had a lot to do with the manliness of a couple of their opponents.



“You only need to have physical contact with them to know this, and we can tell from what happened most times during the match,” said Ghana’s Diana Ankomah. Ghana captain Florence Okoe added: "It is not as if we are throwing sour grapes, just because we have lost. Rather, this is the fact and it is up to the organisers to do something about this. It is not good for African women's football."

It’s not the first time that there has been a protest over the gender of the Simpore ‘sisters’, as last year the Nigerian women’s team openly questioned whether or not they were actually females, but their protest was thrown out by African authorities.



The allegations have never been proven and CAF have refused to comment on the matter, but FIFA’s testing procedures are believed to substantially tougher than those in African football, which raises questions about their withdrawal so close to the World Cup. Added to the debate over their sexuality, there is also further controversy over Salimata Simpore, given that she is alleged to have previously represented both Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast at international level.