Chawinga sisters speakon CAF award 2nd shortlist
The Chawinga sisters, Temwa and Tabitha, have linked their exclusion from the second shortlist of the Africa Woman Footballer of the Year Award to the Scorchers’ failure to qualify for Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) and the World Cup.
The two players, whose sheer quality shone at club level overseas, made the initial shortlist of 30 players for the prestigious continental award, but have been left out in the second shortlist which has been trimmed to 10 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Temwa, who inspired her Chinese Women’s top-flight league side Wuhan Jiangda to a fourth consecutive league title, said she was not surprised to miss the second shortlist.
The 25-year-old striker, who was nominated for the first time, said: “Of course, I won almost everything that was on offer at club level and also helped the Scorchers win the Cosafa Women’s Championship, but at the back of my mind, I knew I would still be haunted by the Scorchers’ failure to play at the two big tournaments because the Cosafa Championship is just a regional tournament.
“If you look at the second short-list, you will see that it is dominated by players who impressed at club level and were also at the two tournaments.
“Another setback is our failure to join other major tournaments like was the case with the 2024 Olympic qualifiers.”
Besides inspiring Wuhan to a fourth consecutive league title, she is also on course to win the league’s golden boot award as she leads the scorers’ chart with an 11-goal margin with a game before the season winds up.
She has scored 27 goals while her fellow African Barbara Banda from Zambia, who plays for Shanghai, is second with 16 goals.
Temwa also inspired Wuhan to win the Chinese National Cup and clinched the competition’s golden boot award.
On the other hand, Tabitha also said while she has had reservations on the criteria, she feels missing out on major tournaments contributed to her omission.
Said the Scorchers captain: “Sometimes you get confused when you think of what criteria is used, but then perhaps not qualifying for the major tournaments also puts us at a disadvantage.
“Anyway, there is always next time. I am still optimistic of winning it some day.”
Tabitha, who is on loan at French Women’s First Division side Paris Saint Germain (PSG), hogged the limelight after winning the Italian Serie A Feminine golden boot with 23 goals during her loan stint at Inter Milan.
She became the first African player to achieve that feat.
This was the fourth nomination for the 27-year-old forward.
Meanwhile Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili, who also made the initial nomination list for Coach of the Year for women’s teams, has also been left out on the second shortlist.
