Malawi Women’s National Football Team’s golden era took another positive turn when the Scorchers, Chawinga sisters Tabitha and Temwa, and coach Lovemore Fazili earned 2023 Confederation of African of Football (Caf) awards nominations.
Caf announced the nominees Tuesday ahead of the gala awards slated for December 11 in Marrakech, Morocco.
The Scorchers have been nominated for winning the 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship after beating neighbours Zambia 2-1 in Pretoria, South Africa.
They will compete against nine other nominees, namely South Africa, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana and Burundi, for the women’s team of the year award.
The team’s coach Fazili has been nominated for the coach of the year award for helping the Scorchers win their first ever Cosafa Cup.
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He will compete against nine other top coaches including Desiree Ellis of South Africa and Jerry Tsabalala of Mamelodi Sundowns.
Other nominees are Nana Joe Adarkwa of Apmem Darkoa, Mehdiel Qaichouri of SC Casablanca, Randy Waldrum (Nigeria), Reynald Pedros (Morocco), Mohamed Amine Aliquoa (AS Far), Moussa Cisse (Senegal) and Esther Chamruma of JKT Queens.
Fazili was excited with the nomination.
“I feel honoured and humbled. I did not expect it,” Fazili said.
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Meanwhile, Tabitha and Temwa have been nominated for the prestigious Caf Women’s Footballer of the Year awards.
Tabitha became the first female African to win the golden boot award in Italian Serie A when she scored 23 goals in 21 matches for Inter Milan Women.
Tabitha could not hide her excitement.
“I thank God. This is awesome. I hope God will help me to win it,” Tabitha, who is on loan at Paris Saint-Germain in France, said.
She was also nominated for a similar award in 2018 and 2019 but lost.
However, this is the first time for her younger sister, Temwa, to be nominated for the prestigious Caf award.
The Wuhan Jiangda striker is enjoying a season of her life in China after scoring 44 goals, 23 of them in the league.
She scored 15 goals in the Chinese National Cup and six goals in the Chinese FA Cup.
Recently, she was named Cosafa Women’s Championship player of the tournament and also won the golden boot with nine goals.
Former Scorchers captain Linda Kasenda said Malawi has a lot of potential.
“We have chances to win some awards. But in future, we need to participate in all major competitions to increase our chances,’’ Kasenda said.
The Scorchers won their first ever Cosafa Cup by winning all five matches.
They beat South Africa 4-3, eSwatini 8-0, Madagascar 3-1, Mozambique 2-1 before a 2-1 victory over Zambia in the final.
