Temwa Chawinga has highlighted how her sister, Tabitha Chawinga inspired her to become one of the best footballers that Malawi has ever produced.
Chawinga beat the prolific strikers, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe to top the world’s goal scoring charts in 2023.
The Malawian scored 63 goals in all competitions – for Chinese Women’s Super League side Wuhan Jianghan University FC, a club that she played before joining an American Club and Scorchers – to beat Ronaldo’s total by nine goals.
Chawinga is the third successive women’s player to claim the accolade after Spain’s Jenni Hermoso topped the standings in 2021 and Fenna Kalma of the Netherlands in 2022.
In an interview with BBC World Services, the 25-year-old striker said Paris Saint-Germain Women’s striker, Tabitha Chawinga played a big role in her journey to professional football.
“It was hard to start playing football. I didn’t know that girls play football, I was just following my sister, Tabitha. I liked the way she was playing but I was young.
“I started following her footsteps and we were playing with boys because a lot of girls were not playing football in our village until I travelled to Lilongwe where my sister was playing by that time, she was playing for DD Sunshine.
“My sister went to Sweden and I also followed her and that’s where my professional football career started. Yah, [Tabitha is my football hero] because she started playing before me,” she said.
Temwa signed for a Swedish football club Kvarnsvedens IK in 2017 after a promising start to her career with DD Sunshine. She later joined Wuhan Jianghan University F.C. in 2020 where she signed a two-year contract before triggering an extension clause in 2023.
Chawinga scored a total of 51 goals for her Chinese club Wuhan Jianghan during the course of 2023, more than any other player in the world for their club side. She also scored another 12 goals for her national team of Malawi to finish 24 clear of the second-placed woman on the list, Mexican Verónica Charlyn Corral of Pachuca.
In addition to 30 goals in the Chinese Women’s Super League, Chawinga also scored 15 in the Chinese National Cup and 6 in the Chinese Women’s FA Cup. Even if you discount the 21 goals Chawinga scored in Cup competitions, she would have still finished ahead of any other woman during the calendar year.
In the absence of her sister, simultaneously making history in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Temwa also helped Malawi win their first-ever COSAFA Cup this year, a competition for the national teams of Southern Africa.
“At first I didn’t know that I was a top scorer for 2023 in the world. But when I found it, I was very happy, it was the first in my career and I didn’t believe that I was the one who achieved that goal. My sister told me and I also came across it on social media.
“I felt so special. It’s so good to be on top of men’s players like that [beating Cristiano Ronaldo.] He is the biggest player in the whole world and I’m looking forward to achieving a better record in 2024,” she added.
Temwa appeals for more support towards Women’s Football in Malawi
Explaining to BBC Sportworld, Temwa Chawinga said it was so hard to start playing football in Malawi as there was little support channelled towards Women’s Football.
“In Malawi, they don’t support women’s football; all the attention is directed towards men’s football. Unfortunately, the lack of support has hindered the women’s national team’s participation in Olympic qualifiers.
“But with what me and my sister have been doing, I hope that they can start putting money into women’s football. So many girls can improve to become like me or Tabitha,” said.
In January this year, the speedy attacker joined The Kansas City Current and she is hopeful that she will perform in the forthcoming season.
On the international stage, Chawinga made her debut for the Scorchers in 2016 playing alongside her sister Tabitha. She recorded her first international goal in the match against Zambia December 16 of that year. Since then, she’s made 14 appearances and recorded 22 goals for Malawi
