Calls for "lifelong ban" after women's footballer appears to punch another player in the face

Football fans have called for a "lifelong ban" for an international women's football player who appeared to punch another player in the face in a video shared on social media.

On June 3, Morocco played Democratic Republic of the Congo in a friendly match.

Just before the hour mark, with Morocco winning the game 2-1, chaos reigned.

In a video shared on X / Twitter, DR Congo's number 17 seems to see red in more ways than one.

Seemingly making no attempt at all to play the ball, she kicks a Moroccan player who plays the ball around her, sending her opponent sprawling to the floor.

The referee has no hesitation in producing a red card to send the DR Congo player off.

A couple of Morocco players confront her, unhappy at what they've just seen happen to their teammate.

Morocco's number 21 then rushes in herself and pushes the player who has seen red and what then happens is inexplicable.

Without hesitation, she appears to punch the Moroccan player in the face, sending her crashing to the floor.

As this happens, another DR Congo tries to push another Moroccan player, who then pushes back and sends her own opponent crashing to the floor as she tripped over the player who appeared to have been punched.

Social media users commented their disbelief at what happened.

Morocco went on to win the friendly 3-2 with Ibtissam Jraidi, who plays as a forward for Saudi Women's Premier League club Al-Ahli, scoring a hat-trick in a contest which seems to have been somewhat marred by that incident.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.