Malawi’s Chawinga named among world’s top 5 players

Malawi’s Tabitha Chawinga continues to make global headlines, after becoming the only African to make the Top 10 of the VAVEL UK’s Top 100 Female footballers of 2017.

The Malawi captain is on position 5 on the list whose countdown took 18 days, as the names were being released in batches.

The 21 year old striker beat Caroline Graham Hansen of Wolfsburg and Norway (6), Camille Abily of Olympique Lyonnais and France (7), Irene Paredes of PSG and Spain (8) among others.

Danish star, Pernille Harder of Wolfsburg, came out top on the list followed by reigning FIFA World of the year, Lieke Martens of Barcelona and Netherlands.

In third place is Sam Kerr of Perth Glory and Australia while Frankfurt and Netherlands star Jackie Groenen sits fourth.

VAVEL lavished praise on Chawinga describing her as a “one – woman army” as she emerged top scorer in Sweden last season, netting 26 goals in all competitions for Kvarnsveden.

This comes a few weeks after Chawinga was among the 5 nominees for the 2018 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Player of the year award, before missing out on the final list of three.

Last month, Chawinga was named Swedish Women Football best forward of 2017.

The former DD Sunshine star managed to defeat competition from Martens and Montpellier’s Stinna Blackstenius to nick the award.

Reacting to her latest feat, Chawinga said: “I am so happy for the VAVEL recognition. To be number 5 on a list of 100 players from all over the world, is not easy. 2017 has been a year of favour and blessings for me. I thank God for that.”

She added: “This will encourage and drive me forward, hoping that one day, I will top the list.”

Chawinga, who is in the country on holiday will be leaving next month to join her new club, Jiangsu Suning of China.

She has signed a 2 year deal after leaving Kvarnsveden.

VAVEL is a website containing the latest in sports news that functions as a social platform for journalists, bloggers and writers to connect with readers. It’s one of the 250 most visited websites in Spain and the third online sports media outlet in the country.