Top NWSL stars are dominating in Morocco, as 11 league players across eight WAFCON 2026 nations battle for four 2027 World Cup berths this week.
Back-to-back MVP Temwa Chawinga made history in Malawi’s debut, as the Current star scored her country’s first-ever WAFCON goal and added the stoppage-time winner to upset 10-time champion Nigeria 3-2. Chawinga's sister Tabitha netted her own along the way.
“We are going to compete, not just to participate,” Chawinga told The Athletic ahead of Monday’s Group C opener.
“We can think like we’re underdogs, but we’re just going there to show up like we can do it.”
Golden Boot-leader Barbra Banda (Orlando) was even more prolific in her Group C clash, ripping a 27-minute hat trick en route to four goals in Zambia’s clinical 6-0 rout of Egypt.
Banda landed the final 96th-minute blow off a cut-back cross from Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji, producing WAFCON’s steepest scoreline since Nigeria shut out Mali by the same margin in 2016.
“We are not relaxed,” Banda said postmatch. “We’re focused on the next game.”
The WAFCON group stage runs through August 6th, with select matches streaming on CAF TV.
