Malawi have a new name on world football's honours list. Temwa Chawinga has been named on the five-player shortlist for the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2026 — the only African in the running, and the first Malawian ever nominated for the award.
Voting opened on Tuesday for the 12th edition of the BBC World Service award, with the five contenders chosen by a panel of coaches, journalists and former professionals for their work between September 2025 and August 2026. Chawinga is up against Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor, Spain great Alexia Putellas, Arsenal forward Alessia Russo and Manchester City striker Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw. Fans worldwide decide the winner, with voting open on the BBC until 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 18 November, and — for the first time — the winner will be announced as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show on Sunday 13 December.
A year that put Malawi on the map
Chawinga's case is built on two stages. In the United States, the 28-year-old Kansas City Current forward scored 15 goals in the 2025 season, became the first player ever named NWSL Most Valuable Player in back-to-back campaigns, won the league's Golden Boot for a second straight year and helped Kansas City lift the NWSL Shield as the regular season's best team — form that earned her a contract extension through 2029.
Then came the summer that changed Malawian football. Returning to international duty at the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Chawinga — alongside her sister Tabitha — carried tournament debutants Malawi, ranked 153rd in the world, all the way to their first WAFCON final. Her five goals and two assists won the tournament Golden Boot, with strikes against Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Algeria, and the run secured Malawi's first-ever qualification for the Women's World Cup. The Scorchers lost the final 3-0 to Cameroon, but Chawinga's tournament is already part of African football folklore.
The four stars standing in her way
This is a heavyweight field. Pajor, Poland's captain and record scorer, finally won the Champions League at the sixth attempt, scoring Barcelona's first two goals in their 4-0 final win over Lyon and finishing as the competition's top scorer with 11 goals, alongside 16 league goals in 23 Liga F appearances. Putellas, shortlisted for a season built at Barcelona — where she was named the 2025/26 Champions League Player of the Season — has since made the landmark summer move to London City Lionesses. Russo, runner-up for this award last year, scored 24 goals in 40 games in her best season yet for Arsenal, as the club's own announcement notes. And Shaw powered Manchester City to the WSL title with 19 goals in 21 matches, winning the Football Writers' Association Women's Footballer of the Year award for a second time.
So what does this mean?
African players have won this award before — Asisat Oshoala and Barbra Banda are both past winners — and a fan vote rewards the story supporters can rally behind. Malawi's First Lady Gertrude Mutharika has already publicly urged Malawians, and the whole African continent, to vote for Chawinga. The timing matters too: the winner is crowned on 13 December, in a new primetime slot, and a Chawinga victory would put Malawi's World Cup debut next year on the global agenda months before a ball is kicked. It would also land in the same awards season in which the men's CAF shortlist caused such debate on this site. On the pitch this week, Roma completed their first Champions League win on Tuesday night — but the biggest African story in the women's game right now is a vote.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Chawinga should win this. Pajor has the European silverware and Shaw the English title, but nobody on this list changed what was possible for an entire country. A nation ranked 153rd does not reach a continental final and a first World Cup by accident — it happens when one extraordinary forward decides it will. The BBC award is a fan vote, and the most powerful story on the ballot is hers.
Will you be voting for Chawinga — or does Pajor, Putellas, Russo or Shaw deserve the award more? Let us know in the comments.
