The International Football Federation (FIFA) launched an investigation today following allegations of an "inappropriate gesture" by the Zambia national team during the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Fifa has announced severe punishments if these accusations are proven.
According to several media outlets, the investigation concerns the coach of Zambia, Bruce Mwape, who allegedly touched the breast of one of the players before the match against Costa Rica, but Fifa did not provide more details.
"We can confirm that a complaint has been received regarding the Zambia women's national team and it is currently being investigated. Fifa takes any allegation of inappropriate behavior very seriously and there is a clear procedure for reporting such cases," FIFA said.
On the other hand, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has said that it has not received any report from any player or official in the delegation that traveled to the World Cup.
"That's why we were surprised when we found out about such alleged behavior of the coach, which the Guardian wrote about in its online article," said the secretary of FAZ and added that all training sessions were recorded.
New Zealand police, where the team is based, said they had not received any reports.
"However, we have been made aware of the alleged incident and, following an initial investigation, no further action has been taken," a police spokesman said.
Coach Bruce Mwape has already been mentioned in recent months in relation to alleged sexual abuse. The Football Association of Zambia then opened an investigation, saying there had been no formal complaint but that it considered "these allegations to be serious".
Mvape, who has been appointed as the 2018 coach, has been asked more questions about this during the World Cup, calling the allegations false.
Bonus video:
