Genoveva Anonma, former female Footballer Of The Year, claims she was 'forced to strip to prove she was a woman'
'I was really upset, my morale was low and I was crying,' she said. 'It was totally humiliating, but over time I have got over it.'
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Your support makes all the difference.Genoveva Anonma’s powerful on-pitch performances not only led to her being named Africa’s female Footballer of the Year in 2012, but also accusations from rival teams that she was secretly a man.
Despite scoring the winning goal for her country Equatorial Guinea during the 2008 African Women’s Championship in 2008, her achievements were not met with celebration by officials from the Confederation of African Football.
Instead, they degraded her, forcing her to strip naked to prove she was a woman.
“They asked me to take all my clothes off in front of officials from CAF and the Equatorial Guinea team,” she told the BBC.
“I was really upset, my morale was low and I was crying. It was totally humiliating, but over time I have got over it.”
The CFA is yet to respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
Anonma became the subject of gender speculation a second time during the 2011 Women’s World Cup, when winners Nigeria, as well as South Africa and Ghana, arraigned Guinea of having three men in their team: siblings Salimata and Bilguisa Simpore, and Anonma.
“You only need to have physical contact with them on the pitch to know this [that they are men],” Diana Amkomah, the Ghanaian defender, said at the time.
“These accusations come because I am fast and strong, but I know that I am definitely a woman,” Anonma rebutted at the time.
However, she claims she has never been granted permission to undergo a medical gender test to scientifically prove her gender and finally silence her critics.
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