By Suleman Chitera
Malawi’s senior women’s national team, the Scorchers, have been eliminated from the delayed 2025 COSAFA Women’s Championship, with their Group A campaign ending in disappointment.
Going into their final group match against Angola, the Scorchers needed more than just a win to keep slim hopes alive for a best runners-up qualification slot. However, tournament regulations have ultimately sealed their fate.
Under the competition rules, results against the fourth-placed team in each group are excluded when calculating the best runners-up standings. This technicality has proven costly for Malawi. Their emphatic 8-1 demolition of Lesotho — a result that had briefly boosted morale and goal difference — has effectively been nullified in the runners-up equation.
As a result, even a victory over Angola would leave Malawi stranded on three effective points in the adjusted standings.
Meanwhile, regional rivals Zimbabwe have strengthened their grip on the best runners-up race. The Mighty Warriors’ narrow 1-0 win over Botswana lifts them to four points, placing them beyond Malawi’s reach.
Namibia sit second in the adjusted table with three points, while Malawi anchor the ranking without a point under the recalculated format.
For the Scorchers, the exit will be a bitter pill to swallow, particularly after showing attacking promise in patches of the tournament. But ultimately, it has been the structure of the qualification system — rather than just results on the pitch — that has curtailed their campaign.
Attention will now turn to rebuilding and regrouping as Malawi seeks to reassert itself in regional women’s football competitions.
