Malawian star named 2023 World's Leading Female Goalscorer, first non-European to win

Temwa Chawinga of Malawi has ended 2023 as the leading female goalscorer of the calendar year according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), the first non-European to achieve this feat.

The 25-year old succeeds Jenni Hermoso of Spain (2021) and Dutch striker Fenna Kalma (2022) as the third winner of the IFFHS award since it was first initiated for women.

Her incredible total of 63 goals in all competitions also means she has scored more goals in 2023 than any other male player.

Chawinga hit the back of the net nine more times than the leading male goalscorer of the calendar year, Cristiano Ronaldo whose four goals over the Christmas period meant he finished with a total of 54 for club and country to move ahead of England's Harry Kane and France's Kylian Mbappé (both 52).

Chawinga scored a total of 51 goals for her Chinese club Wuhan Jianghan during the course of 2023, more than any other player in the world for their club side. 

She also scored another 12 goals for her national team of Malawi to finish 24 clear of the second-placed woman on the list, Mexican Verónica Charlyn Corral of Pachuca.

In addition to 30 goals in the Chinese Women's Super League, Chawinga also scored 15 in the Chinese National Cup and 6 in the Chinese Women's FA Cup. 

Even if you discount the 21 goals Chawinga scored in Cup competitions, she would have still finished ahead of any other woman during the calendar year.

Chawinga's older sister Tabitha is also a striker for Wuhan Jianghan. This summer she moved on loan to Paris Saint-Germain in France. 

In October, the 27-year-old Tabitha made her own piece of history when she became the first player from her country - either male or female - to play and score in the UEFA Champions League when she struck against Manchester United. 

Two weeks ago, she also became the first Malawi player to score in the group stage with her goal away to AS Roma.

Tabitha herself finished 25th in the list of female goalscorers with 25 goals in all competitions, one of five Africans in the top 25. Zambian strikers Rachael Kundananji (34 goals) and Barbra Banda (31) finished fifth and eighth respectively. 

Barcelona's Nigerian striker Asisat Oshoala who led the chart in the early part of the year, eventually finished 15th with 28 goals in all competitions.

Two years younger than Tabitha, Temwa replaced her outgoing sister at Kvarnsvedens IK in Sweden in 2017 scoring 55 goals in 57 appearances for the club. 

After a season at Jiangsu Suning in the Chinese Super League, she signed a two-year contract with an option to extend for a further year at Wuhan Jianghan to team up with her sister.

In the absence of her sister, simultaneously making history in the UEFA Women's Champions League, Temwa also helped Malawi win their first-ever COSAFA Cup this year, a competition for the national teams of Southern Africa.

Incredibly the Malawian team did not receive any prize money for winning the tournament with the organizers admitting that “it is a global reality that women’s football does not command the same commercial funding as the men’s game. 

While COSAFA is working extremely hard to change this in our region, we are not there yet. 

These costs remain the same as for our men’s events, but with lower revenue for our women’s tournament. There is simply no space in our budget framework for prize money."

Chawinga did not score in the final, a 2-1 victory over Zambia in Pretoria but nonetheless earned herself the Golden Boot, as top scorer with nine goals, and Golden Ball, as player of the tournament. For this she received just over $1000.

Of the European-based goalscorers, Chelsea's Sam Kerr finished among the top five for the third successive year. 

Despite a modest goalscoring season for her in the Women's Super, Kerr nonetheless racked up a total of 37 across all competitions with 13 in domestic Cups, 5 in the UEFA Women's Champions League - where she is the current top goalscorer - and 8 for her national team of Australia.

IFFHS WOMEN'S WORLD BEST GOAL SCORER 2023

IFFHS AWARDS 2023 – TEMWA CHAWINGA FABULOUS

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