Chinese club clings to Tabitha

Chinese women’s football club Wuhan Jiangda says it will not let Scorchers’ captain Tabitha Chawinga sign for another team within the next two years.

The 26-year-old confirmed the development on Monday, saying Jiangda want her back at the end of the loan spell with Italian Serie A Feminine League giants Inter Milan in July to help them in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Club Championship campaign in 2024.

Jiangda’s stand comes after recent reports linking the multi-award winner with moves to either French giants Paris Saint-Germain Féminine or English side Arsenal Women Football Club following her impressive performance that has seen her leading the Serie A Femine League’s scorers chart with nine goals.

Despite recently confessing that she is in love with European football, the former African Women Football Player of the Year nominee, who returned to her Italy-base on Monday after spending the holiday on home soil, said she will follow what her Chinese club tells her to do.

“My mother club in China wants me to be part of the 2024 Asian Championship squad. I will listen to whatever they tell me to do since I am still contracted to them,” she said.

Scorchers assistant coach Andrew ‘Aluki’ Chikhosi, who had also drilled Chawinga at DD Sunshine, has described the latest situation as a setback.

“After her impressive display in Italy, it was our expectation to see her making a breakthrough in Europe, owing to the fact that she has already impressed a number of top clubs. Nevertheless, it is up to her to make a decision that suits her interests,” he said.

While playing for Jiangsu Suning in 2019, Tabitha had her first feel of the Asian Women’s Club Championship and missed the golden boot by a whisker after finishing second with three goals, one shy of top-scorer Mina Tanaka of Japanese side Nippon TV Beleza.

Currently, the Malawian women’s football icon is focusing on helping Inter Milan which she joined on loan in August last year, win the Serie A.

In her five-month of playing in Italy, Tabitha has to date been named the Serie A Women’s Player of the Month and the Best Africa Woman Footballer in Europe in September by ESPN sports channel.

The striker started her career at Lilongwe-based women’s football club DD Sunshine, an outfit she now sponsors. She clinched a deal at Swedish side Krokom IF in 2014 before moving to Kvarnsvedens IK in the same country in 2015.

In 2018, Chawinga secured a deal with Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning where she spent two seasons before joining her younger sister Temwa at Wuhan.

Within the last five seasons in China, the Scorchers captain won the golden boot award thrice, including in her debut season where she notched 17 goals.