Malawi & Kansas City Current striker Temwa Chawinga believes she is a contender for the 2024 Caf African Footballer of the Year (POTY) Award, having been overlooked last year when Nigeria’s Asisat Oshaola won it for the sixth time.
Temwa made an impressive debut in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) after joining Kansas from Chinese Women’s Super League club Wuhan Jianghan University FC Chawinga, where she outscored Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, and Kylian Mbappe to lead the world in goal-scoring in 2023.
The Malawian scored 63 goals across all competitions in China, becoming the third consecutive women’s player to win the award, following Spain’s Jenni Hermoso in 2021 and the Netherlands’ Fenna Kalma in 2022 but missed out on the CAF POTY award.
After moving to the United States, she made an immediate impact, scoring a record 20 goals in 25 games with six assists to secure Kansas’ NWSL playoff spot.
Her 2024 NWSL goal total broke Australia and Chelsea FC forward Sam Kerr’s previous regular season record of eighteen goals, which she set in 2019 while with the Chicago Red Stars.
“I have had a good season here in the NWSL, and I thank my teammates for helping me perform the way I did in my debut season. It’s not me alone,” Temwa was quoted as saying by SportsBoom.
When asked who she would prefer to win the 2024 CAF POTY award if not herself, Chawinga replied, “If it’s not me or my sister [Tabitha Chawinga], then Barbra Banda because the way she’s playing, to be honest, she isn’t doing bad. She is doing great. The way she started the season was good, and she has also competed in major tournaments [the 2024 Paris Olympics], so she has a good chance of winning.”
Banda and Temwa’s Impact in NWSL
Behind Chawinga on the NWSL scoring chart is Zambia’s Barbra Banda, who joined the Orlando Pride in March for a near-record $740,000 transfer fee and signed a four-year contract through the 2027 season.
Banda has scored 13 goals and six assists in 21 NWSL games, including four braces for the Pride, which helped them win the Shield.
“It’s amazing to see both of us leading the race for the Golden Boot here,” Chawinga said. “Because we’re sisters, we’re coming from Africa, and we are good friends. We are doing it for Africa and to inspire many girls back home.”
Banda became the first player in Olympic history to score hat-tricks in consecutive games against the Republic of China and the Netherlands in 2021, despite her team going winless and exiting the group stage.
The Copper Queens captain added another three-goal performance to her name at the 2024 Paris games, this time in an 11-goal victory over Australia that ended 6-5.
Following that historic hat-trick, Banda became the first player in women’s football history to score three hat-tricks at an Olympic Games, putting her in strong contention for this year’s CAF award.
Her current Olympic goal tally is nine, five short of Cristiane’s record (14).
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