The Malawi national netball team, nicknamed "The Queens", represent

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

in international

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

competitions.

History

Malawi have played in six

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

, famously finishing fifth in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. In 2012 they competed in the

Fast5 Fast5 (originally called Fastnet) is a variation of netball featuring shortened games and goals worth multiple points. The new format was announced by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) (now the International Netball Fede ...

tournament in

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, where they have had several historic results including wins over

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and

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, and finished in 5th place, just narrowly missing out on the finals. This followed a draw against Australia in the 2010 Edition. Airtel Malawi is a significant financial donor of the Malawi Queens, having sponsored their trip to Auckland for the Fast5 World Series in 2014 to a sum of K6 M. The current Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) president is independent politician Abigail Shariff. She was elected to replace Khungekile Matiya in 2021. At the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, Malawi defeated the second-ranked team in the world,

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, for the first time in history. In November 2022, the team were sixth on the

World Netball Rankings The World Netball Rankings are published by the World Netball to make it possible to compare the relative strengths of internationally active national netball teams. Initially, rankings were based on the results from the World Netball Championsh ...

. Malawi competed at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, in Birmingham. By virtue of its position in the

, Malawi qualified for the tournament. Fixtures were announced in November 2021, then updated with the remaining qualifiers in March 2022. Malawi finished fourth in their group at the competition behind hosts England, New Zealand and Uganda. In 2022 Abigail Shariff and Minister of Youth and Sports, Richard Chimwendo Banda, persuaded Monica Chakwera, the first lady of Malawi. to become the patron of the national netball team. Shariff believed that the first lady would be able to assist with the team's problems. The team was suffering from a lack of funding particularly for domestic matches. In May 2024 Shariff and the rest of the executive committee of the national netball team resigned. The Sports Council were obliged to step in to provide support until a new committee can be appointed. In 2023, Malawi took part in the Netball World Cup in Cape Town. Malawi finished second in Group B, winning matches against Scotland and Barbados to qualify for the second round. In the second round in Group F, Malawi won further matches against Tonga and Fiji and finished third in the group behind England and Australia, thus failing to proceed to the knockout section of the tournament. Following placement matches, Malawi finished 7th in the tournament.

Joyce Mvula Joyce Mvula (born 15 April 1994) is a Malawian netball player and winner of two Netball Superleague titles. Domestic career Mvula started playing netball at age 13 and became the first Malawian to play in the Netball Superleague after she ...

was the team's highest goal scorer, and the fourth highest overall in the tournament, with 194 goals.

Players

2023 Netball World Cup Roster

Jane Chimaliro Jane Chimaliro (born 29 September 1985) is a clerk in the Malawian courts and a netball player who plays for Malawi in the positions of goal attack or wing attack. Life Chimaliro was born in 1975 and she was the last child of four. She was educ ...

(Captain), Martha Dambo,

Thandi Galeta Thandie Galleta (born 27 January 1993) is a Malawian netball player who plays for Malawi in the positions of WA or C. She has played in two Commonwealth Games and in 2025 she was an experienced member of the squad. Career She has featured in t ...

Mwai Kumwenda Mwai Kumwenda (born 27 September 1989) is a Malawi netball international player. She represented Malawi at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games and at the 2011 and 2015 Netball World Cups. Kumwenda was the top goal scorer at three succe ...

Takondwa Lwazi Takondwa Lwazi also spelt as Takwonda Lwazi (born 15 May 1992) is a Malawian netball player who plays for Malawi internationally and for Malawian local club Blue Eagles in the positions of C and WA. She is known as one of the finest netball cen ...

, Madalitso Mkandawire, Caroline Mtukule,

Grace Mwafulirwa Grace Mwafulirwa Mhango (born 24 December 1987) is a Malawian netball player who plays for Malawi in the positions of goal defense or wing defense. She has featured in four consecutive World Cup tournaments for Malawi in 2011, 2015, 2019, and ...

, Lauren Ngwira, Sindi Simtowe,

Towera Vinkhumbo Towera Vinkhumbo (born 14 February 1991), also referred to as Towera Vinkhumbo-Nyirenda or Towera Nyirenda, is a Malawi netball international and a Malawi women's football international. As a netball player she represented Malawi at the 2010, ...

. Reserves: Shabel Bengo, Salome Nkhom, Mma Lepona Manyonyoba Coach: Sam Kanyenda

Notable past players

Mary Waya Mary Waya (born 25 May 1968) is a Malawian netball player and coach. Waya started playing international-level netball at age 14, and has played in more than Cap_(sport)#Netball, 200 representative matches for Malawi national netball team, Malawi. ...

* Connie Mhone

Coaches include

The Queens have been coached by Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa. She replaced Whyte Mlilima, who was appointed as caretaker head coach after former coach late Griffin Saenda had to withdraw from the team on medical grounds in 2018.

Joanna Kachilika Joanna Kachilika (born 8 June 1984) has been a Malawian netball player, team captain and coach of the Malawi national team. She plays in the positions of goal defense or wing defense. She has featured in two World Cup tournaments for Malawi in ...

was one of only six people who had the Africa Level One Certificate in coaching and in January 2024 she was named as Malawi's National Team Coach. She took over following an eight month hiatus after the dismissal of Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa. Her assistant was to be Eleanor Mapulanga and Beatrice Mpinganjira was the trainer. She was chosen because of her commitment but also because there was no regular wage associated with the position because of funding shortfalls. In November 2024 she was replaced. This time the choice was to have co-coaches for the national team of Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa and

. Chawinga-Kaluwa had previously been the Malawian coach and Waya had been the national coach for Namibia. Kachilika was not consulted and she was offered the position of under-21 coach. She refused this position and the NAM General Secrerary, Yamikana Kauma, understood that Kachilika had instructed her lawyers and they were trying to resolve the impasse.

Competitive history

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References

* Malidadi, Mphatso (29 November 2022). https://times.mw/nam-yet-to-pick-queens-assistant-coach/?amp=1 {{National sports teams of Malawi Malawi national netball team National netball teams of Africa Netball in Malawi

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...