Malawi Women’s Under 20 captain Leticia Chinyamula has expressed pride after the Junior Scorchers emerged as the only team from the COSAFA region to reach the final round of the 2027 FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup African Qualifiers.
The Junior Scorchers booked their place in the fourth and decisive round following a commanding 6–2 aggregate victory over Guinea-Bissau in the third round.
Malawi will now face Nigeria in a two-legged tie scheduled for May, with the winner securing qualification to the FIFA Women’s Under 20 World Cup finals set to be staged in Poland in September 2027.
Malawi remain the sole COSAFA representative in contention after South Africa and Zambia were eliminated last weekend. Earlier, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia exited the competition in the second round.
Chinyamula described the milestone as historic, particularly given Malawi’s previous outings in the competition.
“We are proud to be the only team in Southern Africa that has reached this stage. It is not a small achievement, especially when you consider that in our previous appearances we failed to progress beyond the first round,” she said.
Despite the accomplishment, the captain stressed that the team remains focused on the bigger objective.
“We will work hard to make our country and the region proud by qualifying for the World Cup. We still have to face Nigeria, who are seasoned campaigners in this competition, so it will not be easy. We must raise our level and address all the areas where we need to improve.”
Victory over Nigeria would see Malawi make history as the first women’s national team from the country to qualify for a FIFA World Cup tournament.
