Malawi National Women’s Football Team, the Scorchers, have been placed in Group A of the 2025 HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship, which will be staged in Polokwane, South Africa, from February 18 to March 1, 2026.
Group A also includes hosts South Africa, Lesotho and Angola.
Group B contains defending champions Zambia, along with Botswana, Eswatini and Zimbabwe.
Group C has three teams and includes Mozambique, Namibia and Madagascar.
The last time Malawi faced South Africa was in a friendly match on 5 and 8 April 2025. South Africa won all the games, 3-0 and 2-1, respectively.
Against Angola, it was on 23 and 28 October 2025 in the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers. Malawi won 2-0 at home and drew 0-0 on the road.
Sports analyst Dan Chemis believes Group A is a tricky one since the hosts and Angola always give Malawi a tough time.
However, he urged the coach, Lovemore Fazili, to maintain his squad and give a chance to star performers in the local league.
“He should not change the team, he should keep the whole team as it is gelling. Most girls in the National Bank [of Malawi] Women’s League should also be exposed because this is a developmental tournament,” Chemis said.
Fazili is on record stating that he wishes to make the nation proud to make the nation proud in all their forthcoming assignments.
“Our target is to reach the COSAFA Women’s Championship final,” he said after he named a 32-member provisional squad that began camping on 1 February 2026.
In that squad, there is Deborah Henry, the top goalscorer from the NBM Women’s Premiership, Egypt-based midfielder Vanessa Cikupila, defender Chimwemwe Madise of TP Mazembe, Tendai Sani of ZISD, and Chisomo Banda from Konkola Blades Queens.
According to a statement from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), the top team in each pool will advance to the semi-finals, along with the best runner-up.
“Because there are three teams in Group C, results against the bottom sides in Groups A and B will be disregarded for the purposes of that calculation,” reads part of the statement.
Football Association of Malawi, through its website, said the tournament is crucial for the team as it will also serve as a key build-up competition for the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026, which will be staged from March 17 to April 3.
“The COSAFA Women’s Championship is expected to provide valuable competitive match exposure for the Scorchers as they fine-tune preparations for their historic participation at the continental finals,” reads part of the statement.
Malawi, champions in 2023, saw their title defence in the 2024 edition end in the semi-finals after a 2–0 defeat to Zambia.
Zambia went on to lift the trophy, edging South Africa 4–3 on post-match penalties after a goalless draw in regulation time.
