Two-time MVP and Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga’s aura charges KC Current
If the National Women’s Soccer League had an award for aura, Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga would be a frontrunner. Why not add another trophy to the two MVP and Golden Boot awards she has collected in consecutive years since joining the league? The 27-year-old Malawi international returned to the Current’s CPKC Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the first time since sustaining a hip adductor injury last October .
Chawinga’s close-cropped fade is a revolving array of color, and for her 2026 NWSL debut, she opted for violet. The bright hue stood out from the Current’s fiery red kits and Gotham FC’s all-business black as she streaked across the pitch. After 168 days, she needed just 40 minutes — 37, really, if we stop the clock at the saucy assist she provided to Debinha to bring the reigning NWSL shield winners level with the reigning NWSL champions — to remind us all of this week’s three words… That Chawinga aura!
A complete KC team goal 😏 Croix Bethune ➡️ Michelle Cooper ➡️ Temwa Chawinga ➡️ Debinha pic. twitter. com/akuuSErR2c — National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 4, 2026 Folks, it is still running strong, and it just might be enough to settle the Current’s rough start this season.
Chawinga did not score in her side’s 2-1 win on Saturday, but the force of her presence on the field, whether or not she had the ball, was as palpable as it was in her first two seasons and just as critical to unlocking the talent on the Current’s roster. As head coach Chris Armas said after the game on Saturday, it’s “the attention she draws from the opposition, the confidence she gives our players emotionally, the quality she brings onto the pitch, the threat in behind, but she’s also very smart with her runs and with the ball. ” Armas, who was hired in January to succeed Vlatko Andonovski as the Current’s manager, said it was his first time watching Chawinga play live, to which we say: “Welcome to the party.
” Chawinga’s NWSL homecoming hit different from those of other star players like the Portland Thorns’ Sophia Wilson or Gotham’s Tierna Davidson. The U. S.
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