Women’s football superstars Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga are among the five finalists for the 2024 Confederation of African (Caf) Women’s Footballer of the Year award.
The Malawian sisters will compete for the top award against BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year Barbara Banda of Zambia, Sanna Mssoudy of Morocco and Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony scheduled for December 16 in Marrakech, Morocco.
Temwa, who arrived in the country on Wednesday for her off-season break, said she was happy to be on the list.
“I am happy with the nomination. I see it as a great achievement. But there will be only one winner and I am ready to accept any result. May the best candidate win,’’ she said.
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Voting for the shortlisted players are Caf Technical Committee members, media professionals, head coaches and captains.
Temwa has taken United States of America’s National Women’s Soccer League by storm, breaking several scoring records in her first season after joining Kansas City from China.
The Malawian’s 20 goals in the regular season saw her win the Golden Boot award, breaking the 18-goal record that Sam Kerr set in 2019.
Temwa also set a league record by scoring in eight straight matches.
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She also became the first player to score against all of the league’s 13 teams in a single season.
Her achievements in the just-ended season were enough to see the Most Valuable Player award come her way.
Tabitha joined French champions Olympique Lyonnais from Chinese giants Wuhan Jianghan.
She said making the final list of nominees was Malawi to end the match 4-2 in South Africa’s favour.
Kasenda said her charges failed to control the game due to pressure.
“We were exposed especially in midfield. But these are young girls and some of them have never played at this stage before. We will go back to the drawing board and correct our mistakes. We should do better in the next match,” she said.
Her counterpart Ntombifuthi Khumalo said she was impressed with her players’ performance and believes they would register another victory in the next assignment.
Malawi‘s next match is against Madagascar on Sunday while South Africa will face Namibia.
an honour.
’’I had a wonderful season. But I will let Caf voting panellists to decide. All I can do is continue to make good use of the opportunities presented to me,’’ Tabitha said.
Last season, Tabitha played on loan at Paris Saint Germain in France where she won the French Women’s Footballer of the Year award.
She also clinched the Golden Boot award with 19 goals in her debut season.
National Women’s Football Association Chairperson Adellaide Migogo hailed the sisters for their exploits.
’’We are proud of their achievements which have opened up opportunities for fellow Malawian players abroad,’’ Migogo said.
The Chawinga sisters were also nominated for the 2023 award which Nigerian superstar Asisat Oshoala won.
Oshoala is conspicuously missing on the list for the first time in a decade.
