The Malawi national netball team, nicknamed "The Queens", represent Malawi in international netball competitions.
History Malawi have played in six World Netball Championships, famously finishing fifth in 2007.
In 2012 they competed in the Fast5 tournament in Auckland, where they have had several historic results including wins over Australia and England, 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, Malawi defeated the second-ranked team in the world, New Zealand, for the first time in history.
In November 2022, the team were sixth on the World Netball Rankings. Malawi competed at the Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham. By virtue of its position in the World Netball Rankings, 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 was the team's highest goal scorer, and the fourth highest overall in the tournament, with 194 goals.
The Malawian financial services group, NICO Holdings, sponsored the Malawi national netball team in 2025/26. At the end of the first year, in January 2026, they said that they would continue including underwriting international competitions including that years Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Players
2023 Netball World Cup Roster
Jane Chimaliro (Captain), Martha Dambo, Thandi Galeta, Mwai Kumwenda, Takondwa Lwazi, Madalitso Mkandawire, Caroline Mtukule, Joyce Mvula, Grace Mwafulirwa, Lauren Ngwira, Sindi Simtowe, Towera Vinkhumbo.
Reserves: Shabel Bengo, Salome Nkhom, Mma Lepona Manyonyoba
Coach: Sam Kanyenda
Notable past players Mary Waya 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 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 Mary Waya. 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.
In July 2026 New Zealander Debbie Fuller was the new coach at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Her squad were Takondwa Lwazi, Martha Danbo, Mphatso Banda, Aisha Gama, Florence Jeke, Ethel Ng'ambi, Sophilet Banda, Tendai Masamba, Mwawi Kumwenda, Stella Matelezi, Melia Soko and Shabel Bengo.
Competitive history Netball World Cup Year Championship Location Placing 1995 9th World Championships Birmingham, England 8th 1999 10th World Championships Christchurch, New Zealand 11th 2003 11th World Championships Kingston, Jamaica DNQ 2007 12th World Championships Auckland, New Zealand 5th 2011 13th World Championships Singapore 6th 2015 14th World Cup Sydney, Australia 6th 2019 15th World Cup Liverpool, England 6th 2023 16th World Cup Cape Town, South Africa 7th
Netball at the Commonwealth Games Year Games Event Location Placing 2006 XVIII Games 3rd Netball Melbourne, Australia 6th 2010 XIX Games 4th Netball Delhi, India 5th 2014 XX Games 5th Netball Glasgow, Scotland 5th 2018 XXI Games 6th Netball Gold Coast, Australia 7th 2022 XXII Games 7th Netball Birmingham, UK 7th 2026 XXIII Games 8th Netball Glasgow, UK 7th
World Netball Series Year Championship Location Placing 2009 1st World Series Manchester, England 5th 2010 2nd World Series Manchester, England 5th 2011 3rd World Series Liverpool, England DNQ 2012 4th World Series Auckland, New Zealand 5th 2013 5th World Series Auckland, New Zealand 5th 2014 6th World Series Auckland, New Zealand 6th 2016 7th World Series Melbourne, Australia 3rd 2017 8th World Series Melbourne, Australia 6th 2018 9th World Series Melbourne, Australia 4th 2022 10th World Series Melbourne, Australia DNQ
References
Malidadi, Mphatso (29 November 2022). https://times.mw/nam-yet-to-pick-queens-assistant-coach/?amp=1