Ireen Khumalo
.jpg) Khumalo in August 2026 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 12 December 2003 | |||||||||||||
| Position | Defender | |||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||
Current team | Silver Strikers Ladies F.C. | |||||||||||||
| Number | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| – | Ascent Academy | |||||||||||||
| 2022– | Silver Strikers Ladies F.C. | |||||||||||||
| 2024 | → Green Buffaloes Women F.C. (loan) | |||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| – | Malawi | |||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Ireen Khumalo (born 12 December 2003) is a Malawian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Silver Strikers Ladies as well as the Malawi national women's football team.[1] In 2026 the team's performance was described as the most "remarkable by an international team in a major tournament ever" after finishing as runners-ups in their maiden Women's Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Early life and education
[edit]Khumalo was one of the student-athletes from Ascent Academy; the academy has five players who have gone on to represent Malawi in the senior women's team, including Rose Kadzere.[2][3] During her time at Ascent, Khumalo captained the Ascent Girls Squad, and in 2019 she travelled to the United States to attend Julie Foudy's Sports Leadership Academy camp.[4]
Club career
[edit]Khumalo joined Silver Strikers Ladies (formerly known as DD Sunshine) in 2022 and was part of the squad when the team made their debut appearance at the CAF Women's Champions League COSAFA Qualifier in Gaborone, Botswana.[5]
In 2024, Khumalo joined Green Buffaloes Women in Zambia on loan from Silver Strikers Ladies for a year.[6] Khumalo played as a midfielder for the Zambian club.[7]
At the end of 2025, her club, Silver Strikers Ladies were recognised as the inaugural winners of the National Bank of Malawi (NBM) Women’s Premiership. This was an outstanding win as there were still three games to be played but her club's lead made them unbeatable. The winning match was against Kukoma Ntopwa Women and they won by 4–0. Khumalo scored one of the winning goals at the Silver Stadium in Lilongwe.[8]
International career
[edit]
Khumalo emerged as a top scorer during the 2025 COSAFA Women's Championship in South Africa, where she and fellow Scorchers and Silver Strikers Ladies player Deborah Henry, scored 3 goals each during the tournament. Khumalo's strike helped the Scorchers beat Angola 1–0 during the championship.[9]
Khumalo is one of the 23-member squad representing Malawi in their debut appearance at the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.[1][10] They were ranked 153rd and they were the lowest ranked team to reach the knockout stages after wins over favourites Nigeria.[11] In the semi-final against Algeria they won 3–1, however Khumalo was given a yellow card.[12] The team's performance at WAFCON was described as the most "remarkable by an international team in a major tournament ever".[11] The team made the final where they were defeated 3–0 by Cameroon who became the champions at their fourth time in a WAFCON final.[13]
In August 2026 Temwani Simwaka the NBS bank's CEO announced that they would be rewarding the Malawi women's national football team. The bank announced that it would pay 7 million kwacha direct into each player's bank account.[14]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Fazili Names Final Scorchers Squad for WAFCON". Football Association of Malawi. 11 July 2026. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Ascent makes some major noise on the international stage!". Ascent Soccer. 5 March 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Ascent Soccer proud of its 5 products in the triumphant Scorchers". 19 October 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Donate Now - Sponsor Ireen Khumalo by Ascent Soccer". Give Lively. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Silver Strikers and ZESCO Ndola Girls Profiles". COSAFA - The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. 11 August 2026. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Ireen Khumalo Joins Green Buffalos of Zambia – Face of Malawi". Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Opposition Watch - WAFCON - Scorchers suffer defeat - ZamFoot". 17 July 2026. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "Silver Strikers Ladies Crowned Inaugural NBM Women's Premiership Champions". AfricaBrief. 29 December 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- ↑ Malidadi, Mphatso (3 March 2026). "Scorchers duo among Cosafa top goal scorers". The Times Group. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ Malidadi, Mphatso (1 August 2026). "Chasing dreams". The Times Group. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Is Malawi's WAFCON run the most remarkable major tournament performance ever?". www.espn.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- ↑ "Algeria (W) vs Malawi (W) 12/08/2026 Final Score". Futbol24. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- ↑ "Wafcon 2026 final: Cameroon 3-0 Malawi - Marie Ngah Manga helps Indomitable Lionesses to first title". BBC Sport. 16 August 2026. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- ↑ Mwanza, Patrick (23 August 2026). "Scorchers, Our Ride Or Die — Malawi Fans | MediaGov". Retrieved 12 September 2026.
External links
[edit]- Ascent Academy
- Ireen Khumalo at Soccerway
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