The Malawi Women’s National Football Team face mixed fortunes as France-based Scorchers captain Tabitha Chawinga and her US-based sister Temwa have been ruled out of the upcoming Fifa Women’s Series due to injuries.
Fowever, eight other internationals are available for selection.
The four-team tournament kicks-off this Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) confirmed the development yesterday through a statement posted on their Facebook page.
Reads the statement: “The Scorchers wrapped up their final training session today before departing this afternoon for the Fifa Series Tournament in Kenya. However, the team will be without the Chawinga sisters, who have been ruled out due to injuries.”
The Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili was hopeful of Temwa’s availability for the series following her return to action on Sunday for her club Kansas City (KC) Current in a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match against Gotham FC after being sidelined for six months due to an injury.
In an interview yesterday, he said Tabitha and Temwa will be greatly missed, but was confident that the other players in the squad will take up the challenge.
“Although we will miss the services of the two key players, we will strive for positive results,” he said.
“We are no longer underdogs after we qualified for the 2026 Wafcon [Women’s Africa Cip of Nations] finals.”
The Chawinga sisters’ manager Theana Msolomba confirmed the duo’s unavalability “as both are not fit”.
Tabitha suffered a knock last Thursday when her club Olympique Lyonnais beat Wolfsburg 4-0 in the Uefa Women’s Champions League semi-final to progress to the final on 4-1 aggregate win.
Three days later, the injury forced her to miss the Coupe De France semi-final against Strasbourg in which Lyon triumphed 6-0.
As for Temwa, her club KC Current has not released the free-scoring forward for assessment despite playing for 40 minutes against Gotham FC.
The two-time NWSL Most Valuable Player was substituted as KC Current came from behind to win 2-1. Temwa provided an assist for the equaliser.
However, it is not all doom-and-gloom for Fazili as eight other foreign-based players who were called up have confirmed their availability for the series which will be the last preparatory event for the Malawi Women’s National Football Team ahead of their debut appearance at Wafcon finals in Morocco this July.
The available foreign-based players include France-based striker Rose Kabzere, Sweden-based midfielder Faith Chinzimu, Morocco-based forward Sabina Thom, Egypt-based striker Vanessa Chikupira and Democratic Republic of Congo-based defender Chimwemwe Madise. Others are Zambia-based forward Tendai Sani and midfielder Sarah Mlimbika.
Meanwhile, local-based players left for Kenya yesterday where the 153rd-rsnked Scorchers will face 15th-ranked Australia this Saturday.
The winning side will meet winners between 67th-ranked India and 134th-ranked Kenya on April 15 while the losers will face-off in a third-place match.
