Zambia FA 'surprised' over misconduct claims against women's head coach

Zambia's football association has said it is "surprised" by misconduct claims made against women's team head coach Bruce Mwape.

It comes after allegations, first reported by The Guardian, that the manager had rubbed his hands over the chest of one of the players days before Zambia's Women's World Cup win over Costa Rica.

FIFA confirmed to the newspaper that it had received a complaint and that it had opened an investigation.

However, The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) said in a statement that it had not received a complaint from "any of the players or officials" in its World Cup delegation.

"It has therefore come as a surprise for us to hear of such alleged misconduct by the coach as reported in the said online publication," said FAZ General Secretary Reuben Kamanga.

"As a matter of fact, all the training sessions for the Copper Queens were filmed by the FAZ media team and offers no such footage as envisioned by The Guardian.

"Additionally, a FIFA film crew attached to the Zambian team at the World Cup was present at all training sessions."