We start this week’s conversation by congratulating the Malawi National Women’s Football Team for reaching the TotalEnergies CAF 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) final after beating Algeria 3-1 on Wednesday.
Woman of the Match, Tabitha Chawinga, scored twice, and her sister Temwa added another goal as the Scorchers secured their spot in tomorrow’s historic final against Cameroon, who beat hosts Morocco 3–1 on penalties on the same night.
And this isn’t the team’s first taste of history. In 2023, the Scorchers won their first-ever Cosafa Women’s Championship after defeating Zambia 2–1 in South Africa. Notably, their journey to this year’s Wafcon final and the subsequent qualification to the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil have been equally remarkable. From the 3–1 victory over Nigeria through the narrow 2–1 defeat to Zambia to the hard-fought 2–1 win over Ghana, the team kept moving forward, growing stronger and more confident with each outing.
What the Scorchers have achieved in Morocco isn’t the ordinary stuff of the football business. No. The feat demands a more serious conversation because our girls have achieved what their brothers in the men’s national team have spent generations promising to accomplish—often accompanied by hefty allowances. They are good at building castles in the air these ones! However, the girls, ranked 153rd in the world and appearing at the continental finals for the first time, chose a different route. They stopped ranting about history and simply went out onto the pitch to deliver their own history with their feet.
In fact, watching the girls play has been nothing short of marvellous. Just young talented footballers, sound game plans and the wonderfully simple conviction that the best way to win football matches is to play better than the opponents. Not using ‘juju ’, as their brothers occasionally want us to believe that magic is necessary to win games. However, as I watched their games, I was repeatedly reminded that Malawi has so much football talent. Yes, we may lack the ecosystem needed to turn that talent into sustained success. We just need more investment, proper infrastructure, quality coaching, competitive pathways and administrators prepared to look beyond the next tournament.
Only then can we start to build teams that compete consistently in CAF and Fifa tournaments. The other thing is that football development is a long game. It requires continuity, patience and accountability. That’s why the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) deserves credit for retaining coach Lovemore Fazili and strengthening his backroom staff with expatriates amid criticism of the coach’s qualifications and questions over his previous results. You cannot build a strong national team in a year, hoping miracles will happen. Nor can you appoint and dismiss coaches at the first sign of trouble, only to expect that a settled squad and a coherent playing philosophy will somehow emerge from the confusion.
And there is more. The eventual champions will get $2 million (about K3.5 billion at an exchange rate of K1 751 to the dollar) while runners-up will pocket $750 000 (roughly K1.3 billion). Now, those aren’t the sort of figures one casually waves away while pretending money does not matter. But, for today, we can put the calculators down because this historic moment is worth more than the prize money attached to it. After all, this tournament has reminded us that every team is beatable. Even 10-time champions Nigeria can be beaten by debutants like the Scorchers when preparation meets belief, organisation and courage.
But the bigger question is what happens after the applause? Can FAM and the government build on what the Scorchers have achieved in Morocco by investing in the structures that produced this success and giving the team heading to the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil—and the generations coming behind them—better incentives and a stronger platform to compete? Or will we celebrate loudly today and quietly return to business as usual?
History will remember this moment not by how loudly we celebrated the Scorchers’ accomplishment, but by what we did with the opportunity they gave the nation.
