The Football Association of Malawi withdrew its women’s national team from the recently concluded 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifiers due to financial constraints, disappointing its star player, Tabitha Chawinga.
Chawinga spoke with BolaNews just hours after being named the 2022/23 Italy Women’s Footballer of the Year, the best forward, and also in the best 11.
The 27-year-old striker, who is currently on a one-year loan from Wuhna Jiangda to French women’s top-flight league side Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), expressed disappointment that the Scorchers, who won the Cosafa Cup two months ago by defeating Zambia in the final, are not participating in the WAFCON.
“It is a sad development,” she reacted. “You would agree with me that in Malawi now we have a lot of players who are on top of their game. You saw their play at Cosafa.
Chawinga added: “We were supposed to take this talent to WAFCON, which is a big tournament and I am sure many of our players could have been spotted while there.
“It is disappointing and we need to do better next time to participate in these tournaments.”
Apart from Cosafa, Malawi has not participated in any tournaments for two years now due to financial constraints.
All national teams are financed by the Malawi government, which is struggling due to the economic challenges the country is facing.
Malawian female players are still owed bonuses
Meanwhile, the Scorchers have yet to receive a portion of their Cosafa game bonuses because the government has yet to fund the Malawi Football Association (FAM)
FAM told the media in Malawi last week that it will pay out the bonuses once it gets its MK540 million ($319,968) funding from the government.
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In total, players are owed MK1.5 million each ($888), MK500,000 as an up-game bonus for the five games, and MK1 million ($592) as a token of appreciation promised.
Last month, the Malawi government also failed to fund the Malawi Netball team to participate in the just-ended African Netball Championships and the team is expected to be fined for pulling out at the eleventh hour.
