Temwa Chawinga becomes first African woman in women's Ballon d'Or top 10
- Malawi forward Temwa Chawinga has become the first African woman to finish in the top 10 of the women's Ballon d'Or.
- The Kansas City Current striker was named among the elite group at Monday's ceremony in London.
- Her finish is being described as a milestone for African women's football.
Malawi striker Temwa Chawinga has become the first African woman to place in the top 10 of the women's Ballon d'Or, the award that honours the best female footballer in the world.
The result was announced on Monday at the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony, held at the London Palladium in England, according to Punch.
Chawinga was born on September 20, 1998, in Rumphi District in northern Malawi. She plays as a forward for Kansas City Current in the United States' National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and for the Malawi national team.
A career built on goals
Her rise has been driven by scoring. She spent four seasons with Wuhan Jianghan University in China, winning the Chinese Women's Super League title each year from 2020 to 2023, and finished as the league's top scorer in 2022 and 2023.
Since moving to Kansas City Current, she has won the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup and the 2025 NWSL Shield. She was named NWSL Most Valuable Player and won the NWSL Golden Boot in both 2024 and 2025.
In 2023 she received the World's Best Top Goal Scorer award from the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
She was not the only player from outside Europe in the top 10. Haiti's Melchie Dumornay and Jamaica's Khadija Shaw also made the group, alongside Norway's Caroline Graham Hansen, Spain's Patri Guijarro, Denmark's Pernille Harder, Poland's Ewa Pajor, Spain's Clàudia Pina and Alexia Putellas, and England's Alessia Russo.
Both Vanguard and Punch reported that no African woman had reached this stage of the award before.
Why it matters
For African football followers, Chawinga's placing is a marker of how far the women's game on the continent has come. It puts a player developed in Malawi, and now starring in the US, in the same ranking as the biggest names in Europe.
It also comes as more African women play professionally abroad, and as clubs and sponsors pay closer attention to the women's game.
Chawinga's own record suggests the recognition is earned rather than symbolic: back-to-back MVP awards and Golden Boots in the NWSL are rare company for any player, from any continent.
What happens next is not yet clear from the reports. The sources did not say where Chawinga placed within the top 10, or who won the 2026 women's award.
