Kansas City Current goal-scoring star Temwa Chawinga wins coveted NWSL MVP award

It was inevitable.

The National Women’s Soccer League made it official Friday morning, announcing that Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga has won the 2024 NWSL Most Valuable Player award.

It is well deserved as Chawinga, 26, put together the most productive campaign in league history.

Chawinga arrived in Kansas City last offseason after leading the entire world — women’s soccer and men’s soccer — in goals scored during 2023. Those goals came in China’s pro league, prompting some to question what adjustments she’d need to make in the NWSL.

Instead, the league was forced to adjust to Chawinga.

She wrecked opposing game plans and put the ball in the back of the net at a rate the NWSL has never seen. She scored 23 goals across all competitions and added six assists in 25 matches played during the NWSL regular season.

Her 20 regular-season league goals surpassed the old record of 18 (set by Sam Kerr in 2019). She broke it emphatically, too, thumping home a strike from distance in a 1-0 shutout of Bay FC on Oct. 12.

She also established new high-water marks for most goals plus assists in a season (26) and most consecutive games with a goal (8).

Chawinga is the first KC Current player to win an NWSL MVP award. She’d already earned this year’s NWSL Golden Boot (top scorer) and a Best XI nomination, while becoming finalist for the African Confederation’s annual best women’s player award.

Chawinga, who also won NWSL Player of the Month three times (June, September, October/November) and made the Best XI of the Month five times, will receive the 2024 NWSL MVP award during the pre-championship fan fest at Berkley Riverfront Park.

Saturday evening’s NWSL Championship Game at CPKC Stadium features the Washington Spirit against the Orlando Pride. It is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 9:00 AM.