ZISD football club attacker Mercy Vitumbiko Mkandawire has revealed her season’s target in the Zambian Women’s Super League.
The Malawian who has scored eleven goals this season, says she intends to continue scoring goals to help the team finish strongly this season. The Lusaka based side, ZISD is currently in fifth place with 36 points from 20 league matches.
With 11 and 14 goals, respectively, Mkandawire and her teammate Lungowe Namasiku rank among the top five goal scorers.
“I am an attacker and competitive, so every time I want to compete, that’s why whenever I play, I try to help my team win by scoring goals or assisting them,” Mkandawire told Bola News in an interview.
The 23-year-old believes that with strong performances in a competitive Zambian top-tier league, she can actualize her dreams of playing for the scorchers team as well as play overseas.
“The Zambian League is a bit advanced, competitive, and organized in comparison to the Malawian League. You would see a so-called small team beating the big teams at times,” Mkandawire said. “My target is to keep scoring because my wish is to play for the senior team and even play abroad.”
Prior to joining ZISD Football Club during the 2022–23 season, Mkandawire was on the books of CY Sisters football club, which campaigns in the Malawian Northern Women’s League.
The attacker rates the Zambian League as competitive because it comprises of teams drawn from different regions.
“The difference between the Zambian and Malawian leagues is geographical: the Malawian league is played at the regional level before getting qualifying teams to tussle at the national level, and maybe because the Zambian league was established some years ago,” Mkandawire noted.
Mercy speaks highly of Chawinga sisters.
Temwa Chawinga led the scorchers’ attack as Malawi won its first COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2023. Meanwhile, her sister Tabitha Chawinga was blazing a trail in Italy, becoming the first African player to earn the best scorers award in the Italian Women’s League.
Mkandawire, who signed with ZISD for the 2018–19 season, says she took a lot of inspiration from Tabitha, who currently plays for the PSG Women’s Football Club.
“The influence of the Chawinga sisters, particularly Tabitha, is not only continental but global… She has changed the landscape for women’s football in Malawi, the sport that people never thought was also feminine,” she said.
READ ALSO: Malawi’s Temwa reveals expectations of facing Kundananji in NWSL.
“Despite not being among the team that was at COSAFA, being a Malawian women footballer and winning that trophy for the first time has ignited the fire in me and a lot of girls back home,” she concluded.
