Tabitha Chawinga: Photo Credit: Tabitha Chawinga.
Malawi women’s football superstar Tabitha Chawinga has spoken exclusively to Pan-Africa Football reacting to the outcome of the CAF Women’s Football Award which Barbra Banda won on Monday in Morocco.
The Malawi Scorchers captain said she fully understands why her Zambian counterpart won the award. “Barbra deserves the award because even in the video clips beamed at the ceremony you could see her goals were top-notch. You rarely saw goalkeepers saving her efforts,” she said.
“From my understanding, CAF awards are basically about national team performance; hence in that regards, she deserves the award. I have no problem.”
The Lyon forward, who has also been nominated for the FIFA Women's Player of the Year award alongside Banda, then explained why she did not attend the gala despite being invited.
“I was invited to the awards gala but my club could not release me as we have a game [UEFA Champions League game against Wolfsburg] today, Tuesday. I will also not attend the FIFA Awards ceremony today [Tuesday] due to the same reason,” she said.
FIFA released the list on Monday, December 16 2024 ahead of the awards gala scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, 2024 in Doha, Qatar.
The 28-year-old Malawian then hoped that the return of the Scorchers to the Women’s AFCON qualifiers after being drawn against Congo in the first qualifying round could help increase chances of Malawians to earn such awards.
“With our national team set to participate in the WAFCON again it is a relief otherwise at the moment we can give an excuse that these opportunities are eluding us due to the underperformance of our national team in international competitions. We accept the situation but then nothing is impossible,” Tabitha said.
The Scorchers captain has performed consistently since she set foot in Europe winning Golden Boot and Player of the Year Awards in Sweden, Italy, France and China. She currently has six goals and four assists in 11 games for Lyon in the Division 1 Feminine.
With over 200 Goals, Chawinga leads the scoring chart of active African's women goal scorers, followed by Nigeria's talisman, Asitat Oshaola.
Chawinga Career Stats:
French Women's League Top Scorer: 2024
Serie A women's League Top scorer: 2022
Chinese Women's Super League Top scorer:2021
Chinese Women's Super League Top scorer: 2018
Chinese Women's Super League Top scorer:2019
Sweden’s Damallsvenskan top scorer: 2017
Sweden’s Elitettan top scorer: 2015
France’s Trophées FFF D1 Féminine Best Player: 2023–24
France’s UNFP Best Player of the Season: 2023–24
Trophées FFF D1 Féminine Team of the Season: 2023–24
Serie A Female Footballer of the Year: 2022–23
Serie A Women's Team of the Year: 2022–23
Chinese Women's Super League Player of the Year: 2018
Chinese Women's Super League Player of the Year: 2019
Sweden Forward of the Year: 2017
IFFHS CAF Women's Team of the Decade 2011–2020
IFFHS All-time Africa Women's Dream Team: 2021
Comments