{"id":7031423,"date":"2026-08-07T05:25:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/the-malawi-womens-soccer-team-is-on-fire-what-that-means-for-africa\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:25:41","slug":"the-malawi-womens-soccer-team-is-on-fire-what-that-means-for-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7031423","title":{"rendered":"The Malawi women\u2019s soccer team is on fire. What that means for Africa."},"content":{"rendered":"


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Imagine the Faroe Islands beating Germany in men\u2019s soccer. Picture Tajikistan besting Argentina. Those were the kind of odds Malawi\u2019s women\u2019s national team, the Scorchers, faced when they stepped onto the pitch on July 28 in Rabat, Morocco.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s first match in the continental championship was against Nigeria, the defending champion. The Super Falcons towered a full 117 places above Malawi in the FIFA rankings. As if that weren\u2019t bad enough, Nigeria has won 10 of the 13 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tournaments ever played. This was the first time the Scorchers had even qualified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the players, forget about all that,\u201d says coach Lovemore Fazili. \u201cIn football anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Why We Wrote This<\/h2>\n

Despite being 153rd in FIFA rankings, the Malawi women\u2019s soccer team is now within grasping distance of the World Cup. Its staggering ascent in the Africa Cup of Nations is upsetting not just soccer stats, but ideas about who can be a soccer star.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Indeed, when the final whistle blew two hours later, Malawi had rewritten soccer history. A forward with electric blue hair named Temwa Chawinga twice broke through Nigeria\u2019s defensive line, and her sister Tabitha socked away a goal of her own to give the Scorchers a 3-2 victory.<\/p>\n

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Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga, who also plays for the Scorchers, gets set on defense during a National Women’s Soccer League match against the Portland Thorns in Kansas City, Missouri, March 15, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

ESPN dubbed it<\/a> \u201cthe biggest upset in WAFCON history.\u201d And a week later, Malawi are on their way to the quarterfinals \u2013 putting the world\u2019s 153rd-ranked team one game away from qualifying for the 2027 World Cup. But their shock victory means more than that.<\/p>\n

The win was a kind of announcement of the meteoric rise of women\u2019s soccer in Africa. No longer is world class play confined to the continent\u2019s top teams, says professional player and commentator Hannah Baptiste. Even the scrappiest underdogs have \u201cunreal talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, that should come as little surprise. The informal pitches scratched out on the continent\u2019s street corners and open lots have long produced some of world soccer\u2019s best male players.<\/p>\n