As the Malawi Queens prepare to face Zimbabwe in a decisive Netball World Cup qualification semifinal, their run in Nairobi is the latest chapter in one of Malawi’s longest and most successful sporting traditions.
For many Malawians, the current excitement around the national women’s football team has made international women’s sport feel newly visible. The Scorchers’ historic run to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup has deservedly captured national attention.
But in netball, Malawi has been operating at this level for decades.
The Malawi Queens are not an emerging team discovering the international stage for the first time. They are one of the most established national sporting institutions in the country: World Cup regulars, long-time members of the world’s top ten, producers of internationally recognised players, and a team that has repeatedly competed against—and beaten—some of the strongest netball nations in the world.
This week in Nairobi, that history has been on full display again.
The road through Nairobi
The Netball World Cup Sydney 2027 Africa Qualifier is being held at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, Nairobi, from 19–26 September 2026. Ten African teams entered the competition, with two World Cup places available. South Africa and Uganda had already qualified for Sydney through their world rankings, meaning the next two eligible teams at the African qualifier would receive invitations to the World Cup.
Malawi were drawn in Pool 2 alongside Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Nigeria.
Their campaign began with a 72–38 victory over Zambia, followed by a 55–47 win over hosts Kenya. Malawi then produced one of the most emphatic scorelines of the tournament, defeating Nigeria 82–22.
The Queens’ only defeat of the pool stage came against Uganda, who won 54–49 in a closely contested final pool match.
Malawi therefore finished Pool 2 with three wins from four matches.
Africa Netball’s final standings list the Queens with 258 goals scored and a +98 goal difference. Across the two women’s pools, Malawi finished second overall in goals scored and second overall in goal difference, behind only South Africa.
That is an important measure of what this team has done in Nairobi. Even without topping their pool, the Queens have been one of the most productive teams in the entire tournament.
Now comes the match that matters most.
On Friday, 25 September, Malawi face the Zimbabwe Gems at 13:00 CAT in the World Cup qualification semifinal.
The equation is simple:
Beat Zimbabwe, and Malawi qualify for the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney.
Why Malawi is already a netball nation
To understand why this moment matters, it helps to understand just how deep netball runs in Malawi.
Historical research into sport and education in colonial-era Nyasaland suggests that netball was introduced into government girls’ schools in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Over time, it became a central part of physical education and the principal extracurricular sport for girls in many schools.
That matters because elite sport is rarely created at the moment a national team becomes visible internationally.
It is built much earlier.
It is built in schoolyards. In community courts. In teachers introducing girls to the game. In local competitions. In generations of young women growing up with a sport that already belongs to them.
For Malawi, netball became that sport.
Long before professional contracts, global broadcasts or social media highlights, generations of Malawian girls were already playing the game.
That culture eventually produced one of the most important athletes in the country’s sporting history.
Mary Waya and the first global era
Mary Waya began playing international-level netball for Malawi at just 14 years old and went on to represent the country in more than 200 international matches. Her career included World Cups, Commonwealth Games and World Netball Series appearances.
Malawi made its Netball World Cup debut in Birmingham in 1995, finishing eighth.
Twelve years later came the breakthrough that established the Queens as a genuine world force.
At the 2007 World Netball Championships in Auckland, Malawi finished fifth in the world—still the country’s highest World Cup finish. Mary Waya was central to that generation and played her final Netball World Cup at the tournament.
Fifth in the world is not a symbolic achievement.
It meant Malawi had finished ahead of countries with far larger economies, deeper professional sporting systems and substantially greater resources.
That became the foundation of what followed.
From Mary Waya to Mwawi Kumwenda
The next generation produced Mwawi Kumwenda, one of the most internationally recognised athletes Malawi has ever produced.
At the 2015 Netball World Cup in Sydney, Malawi finished sixth. The team were the highest scorers in the competition, while Kumwenda was named Player of the Tournament. She scored 321 goals in eight matches at a 91 percent shooting rate and was the only player at the tournament to score more than 300 goals.
Her performances made her a global star.
In 2016, Kumwenda was voted International World Games Association Athlete of the Year, recognition that extended beyond netball itself.
She also became a leading professional player overseas, including in Australia’s elite domestic competition.
And then came one of Malawi’s greatest sporting upsets.
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Queens defeated New Zealand 57–53. New Zealand were one of the traditional giants of world netball; Malawi were not supposed to beat them. Kumwenda was again central to the performance.
It remains one of those results that captures what the Queens have represented at their best: fearless, technically gifted and capable of disrupting the established hierarchy of the sport.
A remarkably consistent global record
What makes Malawi’s netball story particularly significant is not one isolated golden generation.
It is consistency.
After finishing fifth in 2007, Malawi placed sixth at the 2011 World Cup and sixth again in 2015. At the most recent World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, the Queens finished seventh.
As of 1 September 2026, Malawi were ranked eighth in the world, behind Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, South Africa, Uganda and Tonga.
That means Malawi has spent much of the last two decades operating around the world’s top six to eight teams.
For context, at one stage Malawi’s ranking was high enough to remove the need for regional World Cup qualification entirely.
Ahead of the 2019 Netball World Cup, Malawi were ranked sixth globally and qualified automatically on the strength of that ranking.
That era is important to remember because it explains why regional qualification can feel unfamiliar to some supporters.
For years, Malawi were simply already in.
The qualification route changed
By the time qualification for the 2023 World Cup arrived, Malawi no longer held an automatic place through the rankings.
The Queens therefore had to return to the African qualification route in 2022.
They succeeded.
Malawi qualified for Cape Town 2023 through the African tournament and went on to finish seventh at the World Cup.
Four years later, the same broad challenge has returned.
The Queens must once again earn their place through Africa.
And this time, the final hurdle is Zimbabwe.
The complication in Nairobi
The 2026 qualifier has not been straightforward.
The competition combined the Africa Cup with the World Cup qualification tournament, even though South Africa and Uganda had already secured their places at Sydney 2027 through the world rankings.
That created uncertainty around how final qualification places would be allocated.
Africa Netball subsequently clarified that South Africa and Uganda, as the two pool winners, would contest the Africa Cup final, while the second- and third-placed teams from each pool would cross over in separate World Cup qualification semifinals.
World Netball’s published competition information says the top two eligible teams emerging from the African qualifier will be invited to Sydney.
The result is that Malawi’s pool performance—impressive though it was—does not itself secure qualification.
The Queens must still win on Friday.
Malawi vs Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe are not strangers to this stage.
The Gems are currently ranked 11th in the world, while Malawi are eighth.
Zimbabwe also came through the African qualification process for the 2023 World Cup, so this is not a match between an established team and an inexperienced one.
It is a high-stakes regional contest between two of Africa’s strongest netball programmes.
For Malawi, though, the mission is unmistakable.
Friday, 25 September 2026
Malawi vs Zimbabwe
13:00 CAT
Netball World Cup Sydney 2027 Qualification Semifinal
One win sends the Queens back to the World Cup.
More than one tournament
There is a tendency in sport to treat qualification as though it begins with the opening whistle of a tournament.
Malawi’s story tells us otherwise.
The road to Sydney did not begin in Nairobi.
It began in school courts decades ago.
It runs through the girls who played netball when it was one of the few organised sporting opportunities available to them. Through Mary Waya and the generation that took Malawi to fifth in the world. Through Mwawi Kumwenda becoming the best player at a World Cup. Through Joyce Mvula and other Malawian players who carried the game into professional leagues abroad. Through every Queens team that kept Malawi in the global top ten.
And now it runs through this generation.
A generation that has already scored 258 goals in Nairobi.
A generation that beat Nigeria by 60.
A generation that is now one match away from Sydney.
Whatever happens next, the Queens’ place in Malawi’s sporting history is already secure.
But there is still another chapter to write.
All the best to the Malawi Queens as they take on Zimbabwe.
One more, Queens. 🇲🇼👑
Key facts
Malawi made its Netball World Cup debut in 1995, achieved its best-ever finish of fifth in 2007, and finished seventh at the 2023 World Cup. The Queens are currently ranked eighth in the world. Mary Waya represented Malawi more than 200 times, while Mwawi Kumwenda was named Player of the Tournament at the 2015 World Cup after scoring 321 goals.
For Nairobi 2026, Malawi recorded pool wins over Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria before a narrow loss to Uganda. The Queens now face Zimbabwe for a place at the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney.
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