Tabitha Chaŵinga (born 22 May 1996) is a Malawian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Première Ligue club Lyon and the Malawi national team.
Born on May 19, 1996, in Rumphi District in northern Malawi, Chaŵinga is the third of five children born to her parents. She is of Tumbuka ethnicity. She began playing football at age five and played with boys until age 13 when she began playing for girls' club, DD Sunshine in the capital city, Lilongwe.[1] Already at this age she was forced to undress because "Her opponents did not believe she was female because of her physical appearance and how well she played."[2] Her sister Temwa Chawinga is also a professional footballer.[3]
At age 18, Chaŵinga played for Swedish third-division club Krokom/Dvärsätts IF, where she earned the league's golden boot after scoring 39 goals in 18 games.[4] She was the first women's footballer from Malawi to play for a European club.[5]
Chaŵinga joined Kvarnsvedens IK in Sweden's Elitettan in 2015. In her debut for the club, she scored a brace in a 4–0 win over Lidköpings FK.[6] The club finished in first place during the regular season with a 21–2–3 record.[7] Chaŵinga was the league's top scorer with 43 goals – 14 more than the next highest scorer.[7] The club's first place finish secured them promotion to the Damallsvenskan for the 2016 season.[8]
During the 2016 season, Chaŵinga was the third highest scorer in the league with 15 goals.[9]
In 2017, she finished as the league's top scorer with 26 goals,[10] despite her club's relegation from the Swedish top flight at the end of the season.
After successful spells in Sweden, Chaŵinga gained the interest from various top clubs abroad[11] and eventually signed for Chinese side Jiangsu Suning,[12] reportedly for a record-breaking transfer fee in Swedish women's football.[13][14] On 6 May 2018, she scored the winning goal in her full-length debut away to Shanghai.[15]
Chaŵinga received the Player of the Year Award in her debut season playing in the Chinese Women's Super League. She scored 31 goals in all competitions, 17 being in the CWSL.[16] She retained the award in 2019–20, scoring 12 league goals (38 in all competitions) and helping Jiangsu to a historic quadruple.[17]
After the main sponsor of Jiangsu Suning stopped supporting Chaŵinga, she moved to Wuhan Jiangda where her sister Temwa played.[3] Wuhan sent her on successive loan spells to Inter Milan and Paris Saint Germain. After her loan spell with Paris Saint Germain, without returning to China, Chaŵinga signed for reigning French champions Lyon.
Chaŵinga signed a one-year loan deal with Inter Milan for the 2022–23 season.[18] She was the top scorer in Serie A with 23 goals for Inter Milan, 16 of them in the regular season. She was the first African woman to be the highest-scoring player in Serie A.[17]
Chaŵinga joined Paris Saint-Germain on a season long loan deal.[19] Chaŵinga reunited with manager Gérard Prêcheur, under whom she had worked during the 2018–19 CWSL season with Jiangsu Suning.[20] However, he left the position in September 2023.[21]
Chaŵinga scored her first goal for PSG in a 1–0 victory away at Saint-Etienne.[22] She also became the first Malawian to play and score in the UEFA Women's Champion's League with her goal in a 1–1 tie with Manchester United.[23]
In the 74th minute against BK Häcken in the first leg of the 2023–24 Champions League quarterfinal, Chaŵinga scored the winning goal making it 2–1.[24]
Chaŵinga serves as captain for Malawi.[25]
Due to club football, Chaŵinga was absent from Malawi's 2023 victory in the COSAFA Women's Championship.[26]
In February 2025 returned from France to join other Malawian players picked to play Zambia. She was one of seven players based abroad who were included in Lovemore Fazili's Malawi squad. Sabinah Thom and Chimwemwe Madise also made the team and they are contracted to play in the Democratic Republic of Congo while Rose Kabzere also returned from France. Bernadette Mkandawire was with Vanessa Chikupira in Zambia and Temwa Chawinga joined them from America.[27]
Chaŵinga's sister Temwa is also a Malawian international footballer[3] who now plays for Kansas City Current of the NWSL in USA.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| DD Sunshine | 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010–11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | 14 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 40 | |
| 2012–13 | 10 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 43 | |
| 2013–14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 24 | 83 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 83 | |
| Krokom/Dvärsätts IF | 2014 | 18 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 39 |
| Kvarnsvedens IK | 2015 | 26 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 43 |
| 2016 | 22 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 15 | |
| 2017 | 22 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 26 | |
| Total | 70 | 83 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 86 | |
| Jiangsu Suning | 2018 | 14 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 17 |
| 2019 | 14 | 12 | 2+ | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 20+ | 21 | |
| 2020 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 7 | |
| Total | 40 | 36 | 2+ | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44+ | 42 | |
| Wuhan Jianghan University | 2021 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 9 |
| 2022 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8 | |
| 2023 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Total | 27 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 20 | |
| Inter Milan (loan) | 2022–23 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 26 |
| Paris Saint-Germain (loan) | 2023–24 | 21 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 38 | 29 |
| Lyon | 2024–25 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 28 | 9 |
| Total | 241 | 310 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 10 | 277 | 334 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 13 September 2017 | Barbourfields Stadium, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |  Zambia |
1–0 | 3–6 | 2017 COSAFA Women's Championship |
| 2. | 2–3 | |||||
| 3. | 3–5 | |||||
| 4. | 15 September 2017 |  Madagascar |
1–0 | 6–3 | ||
| 5. | 2–0 | |||||
| 6. | 5–3 | |||||
| 7. | 6–3 | |||||
| 8. | 17 September 2017 | Luveve Stadium, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |  Zimbabwe |
2–3 | 3–3 | |
| 9. | 3–3 | |||||
| 10. | 4 April 2019 | Kamuzu Stadium, Blantyre, Malawi |  Mozambique |
1–0 | 11–1 | 2020 CAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament |
| 11. | 3–0 | |||||
| 12. | 11–0 | |||||
| 13. | 9 April 2019 | Estádio do Zimpeto, Maputo, Mozambique | Mozambique |
2–0 | 3–0 | |
| 14. | 28 August 2019 | Kamuzu Stadium, Blantyre, Malawi |  Kenya |
2–1 | 3–2 | |
| 15. | 3–1 | |||||
| 16. | 7 November 2020 | Wolfson Stadium, Ibhayi, South Africa |  Lesotho |
2–0 | 9–0 | 2020 COSAFA Women's Championship |
| 17. | 4–0 | |||||
| 18. | 5–0 | |||||
| 19. | 6–0 | |||||
| 20. | 8–0 | |||||
| 21. | 9–0 | |||||
| 22. | 12 November 2020 |  South Africa |
2–6 | 2–6 | ||
| 23. | 5 September 2022 | NMU Stadium, Gqeberha, South Africa |  Comoros |
3–0 | 6–0 | 2022 COSAFA Women's Championship |
| 24. | 4–0 | |||||
| 25. | 5–0 |
Kvarnsvedens IK
Jiangsu Suning
Wuhan Jianghan University
Paris Saint-Germain
Individual
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