Tabitha Chawinga has made football history as the first woman from Malawi to play for a professional European club, setting an incredible goal-scoring record along the way.

Tabitha Chawinga has emerged as one of the most dangerous strikers in world football, building a remarkable career across multiple continents before returning to lead Malawi on the biggest African stage.

Tabitha’s journey to the top of women’s football began in Malawi, where she dominated local competitions before earning a move abroad. She became the first Malawian woman to sign for a European club when she joined Swedish side Krokom/Dvärsätts IF in 2014, then moved to Kvarnsvedens IK, where she became one of the league’s most prolific scorers and attracted attention from clubs around the world.

After a high-scoring spell in China with Wuhan Jianghan, Tabitha moved to Italy to play for Inter Milan. There, she made history as the first African woman to win the Serie A Golden Boot, finishing as the league’s top scorer with 23 goals in 21 games in the 2022–23 season.

She then moved to France, where she won another top-scorer award with Paris Saint-Germain before joining her current club, reigning French champions Olympique Lyonnais (OL Lyon).

Tabitha has also become a trailblazer for Malawian and African football on the continental stage. She is widely recognised as one of the first Malawian players to feature in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, where she has both played and scored at Europe’s elite level.

Her historic achievements have established her as one of Africa’s most decorated female footballers, with multiple domestic league top-scorer titles across Sweden, China, Italy and France.

Today, Tabitha brings that wealth of experience back to the Malawi national team, the Scorchers, as they reach a new high at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), where Malawi is making its debut at the continental finals. In a stunning 3–2 upset over ten-time champions Nigeria, the Chawinga sisters spearheaded the attack, with Temwa scoring Malawi’s first ever WAFCON goal and both she and Tabitha driving the Scorchers to a historic victory that will inspire a new generation of African footballers. Together, Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga are using their global success to prove that players from Malawi and across Africa can compete and excel at the highest levels of the game.