Golden Boot, golden pay day! Temwa Chawinga’s market value rockets R- fans who once slammed her issue grovelling apology

Scorchers superstar Temwa Chawinga has seen her market value soar following an extraordinary campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco, where the US-based forward walked away with the tournament’s coveted Golden Boot.

Before the tournament, Chawinga’s value was estimated at around $1.8 million, according to Soccerdonna, a global valuator of women’s football players.

But after her scintillating exploits in Morocco – where she scored five goals and provided two assists as the Scorchers reached the Wafcon final on their tournament debut and secured a historic first qualification for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil 2027 – that figure has now soared to an astonishing $2.5 million.

It represents a remarkable turnaround for a player who, only weeks earlier, had found herself the target of criticism from some sections of the Malawian public.

Before the Wafcon, Chawinga had gone 17 months without playing for the Scorchers due to a combination of injuries and club commitments.

The criticism intensified after she excused herself from Wafcon preparatory matches against Tanzania’s Twiggers for personal reasons, with some fans branding the striker unpatriotic.

But any doubts were emphatically silenced just days later, when Chawinga inspired the Scorchers to a stunning 3-2 victory over 10-time champions Nigeria in the tournament opener – scoring a brace in the process and instantly transforming public perception of the star striker.

The turnaround in sentiment was so dramatic that one Scorchers fan, Isaac Chang’ombe, penned an open letter formally apologising to Chawinga on behalf of everyone who had criticised her.

‘After all what people said against her, she has proved that she is patriotic. Malawi’s success at Wafcon is largely because of Temwa,’ the fan wrote.

With her value now standing at $2.5 million and her stock continuing to rise, Chawinga looks set to enter the biggest year of her career with the football world firmly watching – and with any critics from earlier in the campaign now left with plenty of humble pie to eat.