Equatorial Guinea’s football federation (Feguifoot) says claims that the country fielded male players in its women’s side are “defamation”.
The team finished second in the African Women’s Championship (AWC) and have qualified for next year’s World Cup.

Feguifoot condemned the claims and said a “defamation campaign” had been “led by some African Federations”.
Accusations have been made voiced by players and officials from Nigeria and Ghana especially.

The Feguifoot statement says the “campaign” is motivated by concern over the progress of its female team  which won the AWC two years ago on home soil.

“[The campaign] is conceived by groups of people that watch with pessimism the progress made by Equatorial Guinean soccer,” it said.
“The information about the supposed presence of men in the [team] is totally unfounded _ Feguifoot considers the information issued as evidence of an inferiority complex.”

The players concerned competed not only in the recent AWC tournament in South Africa but also in the two previous championships, according to the statement.