Chawinga sisters top women’s rankings

Malawi Scorchers captain Tabitha Chawinga and her sister Temwa have been named the best African women’s football players for November.

This follows their impressive performance at Chinese Women’s Super League (CWL) outfit, Wuhan Jiangda that helped the team win the championship.

ESPN yesterday announced that Tabitha is the best player for the just-ended month with Temwa as her runner-up.

“The Malawi international ended the season as the league’s top scorer, finishing with nine goals. As a result, she slots back into our Power Rankings in first place. She adds this accolade to her already impressive CV as a player, having previously been the CWSL Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.

“Temwa Chawinga, the younger of the two sisters, is a Chinese champion for the second year running with Wuhan.

“Having chipped in with seven goals this season, she finished second in the goal scoring standings, level with Changchun’s Rafaelle and behind only her older sister,” ESPN website reported.

Tabitha said she was honoured to be named the best player for the month of November.

She said: “To me [it is] a big honour to be recognised like that. There are plenty of good players from Africa and to be the best among them is such a great feeling.”

Linköpings’ Uchenna Kanu is third on the list after scoring both goals in Linköpings’ 2-0 win over AIK, extending her goal-scoring run to seven strikes in four matches to finish the season with 15 Damallsvenskan goals and runners-up to BK Häcken’s Stina Blackstenius who had 17.

Nigerian Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala has slipped to fourth on the rankings after an injury in the 4-0 Uefa Women’s Champions League win over Hoffenheim

She has now scored 11 goals in nine Primera Iberdrola appearances this season for the European champions, who have so much depth upfront that they are bound to cope.

Zambia’s Barbara Banda, who plays for Shanghai Shengli, is fifth after failing to help her team win the title.

“Although she chipped in important goals, including a brace in the 3-0 win over Zhejiang Hangzhou and the winner in the 1-0 triumph over Shandong Ticai, she was unable to lead the team to the title. Shanghai Shengli picked up the bronze medal, beating Guangdong Meizhou Hakka 2-1 in the final,” ESPN further reported.