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In the 73rd minute of a scoreless match, Malawi forward Temwa Chawinga shot down the field like an arrow to receive a long pass from midfield. The ball dropped into the pocket between the opponent’s backline and goalkeeper, a ripe scenario for an attacker whose pace is as blistering as her decision-making.Chawinga, who plays for the Kansas City Current in the National Women’s Soccer League, nudged the ball with her chest to the goalkeeper’s left, ran around her right, and found a half volley to begin an extraordinary new chapter of firsts in her career: not only her first goal at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, but also her country’s.
Malawi defeated 10-time champions and current continental title holders Nigeria in a dramatic 3-2 upset victory on Tuesday, thanks to two goals from Temwa and one from her older sister and OL Lyonnes forward, Tabitha, at the Al Medina Stadium in Rabat, Morocco.
The win puts the southern African nation in a crucial second place in their group behind Zambia on goal differential.
“We are going (to WAFCON) to compete, not just to participate,” Chawinga told The Athletic before she departed for Morocco.
“Of course it’s challenging, but the way I am now I gained a lot of experience. The way my sister is (in France), she also has a lot of experience. Faith (Chinzimu) has a lot of experience now, so we’re not just going there to give respect to the teams. We can think like we’re underdogs, but we’re just going there to show up like we can do it. We can do better like the big teams like Nigeria and Zambia,” she said.
This African tournament doubles as World Cup qualifying. The four WAFCON semifinalists are guaranteed a ticket to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. The four teams that lost in the quarterfinals will compete against each other on Aug. 13, with the winners playing in the FIFA Playoff Tournament that begins in November.
In addition to World Cup qualifying and a WAFCON title there is a third, less clearly defined, reward that could be just as life-changing for a young African player: the opportunity to get recruited to play professional football overseas, earn a stable salary from the sport and support their families and community back home.
Nowhere is this reality clearer than in the eyes of the players who have followed that path, like Chawinga and Malian forward Aïssata Traore, who plays for the Boston Legacy in the NWSL.
Traore and Chawinga began their careers at local clubs in Blantyre, Malawi, and Bamako, Mali, respectively, before signing with clubs outside of Africa and eventually landing in the U.S.. Both consider themselves responsible for uplifting the talent that surrounds them on their national teams in the hopes that their teammates can blaze similar trails.
Last July, Traore became the first player from Mali to join the NWSL when the Legacy signed her ahead of its expansion year. Traore was in the middle of competing in WAFCON at the time.
Just over a year later, the 28-year-old forward became Boston’s top goalscorer when she pounced on a rebound from a corner kick and converted a match-winner of her own against the Kansas City Current, the reigning NWSL Shield holders.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot, and the league is very demanding but I like it,” Traore told The Athletic in French through an interpreter before the Kansas City game.
The next day, Traore was on a flight to Morocco to join the Mali women’s national team and will begin their WAFCON campaign today against Cameroon.
“The national team feels different from this league, but I’m trying to combine both, and to learn from both and help the team as much as I can to improve,” Traore said.
Many of the 16 teams competing in the expanded WAFCON tournament are brimming with undiscovered talent. Chawinga recognizes a hunger in 19-year-old forward Faith Chinzimu, who plays professionally in Sweden — as Chawinga once did — and played all 90 minutes of Malawi’s match against Nigeria.
“She’s so hardworking,” Chawinga said of Chinzimu. “When she was playing in Malawi, she asked me, ‘How can I do like you? How can I play professionally? How’s the life?’
“I explained to her: just go. Don’t think much about home, because we have some problems at home. You just go there to work, like, find something to feed (people at) home.”
On June 22, the Current and Chawinga agreed to a contract extension through 2029. Despite missing the end of the 2025 season and the first four games of this campaign due to injury, Chawinga appears back to her lethal attacking ways, having scored nine goals out of 11 games for the Kansas City club.
Chawinga had already departed the U.S. by the time the Legacy met the Current last weekend, and her absence once again proved as detrimental to Kansas City as Traore’s presence with Boston was a boost to theirs. As soon as the final whistle on her club match blew, though, Traore was locked in to WAFCON.
“I think that the WAFCON is a great opportunity to expose our skills,” said Traore. She first signed with Turkish club Besiktas, which took her out of Mali. She moved on to the French league shortly thereafter, where she played for Guingamp and Fleury before joining the Legacy.
“I remember in 2018, that’s how I got my first contract with Turkey, from Mali. I tend to discuss with younger players in Mali, and I try to encourage them to play the WAFCON so that they have an opportunity to expose their skills and work hard, hoping that maybe through the media, they will be able to get an opportunity to go abroad.”
Traore has played a role in the recruitment herself, she said, working with her own manager to help her national teammates. “I’m hoping that they will have opportunities that I didn’t get because I didn’t get that kind of help,” she added. “But I will be there and trying to help as much as I can.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Kansas City Current, Boston Legacy FC, NWSL, Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup
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