Regardless of what happens in Malawi's Women's Africa Cup of Nations final against Cameroon in Rabat on Sunday, a case could already be made that the Scorchers' run in this competition is the most remarkable by an international team in a major tournament ever.
This is Malawi's debut at a major tournament, and - ranked 153rd in the world - they were the absolute outsiders in the competition when the WAFCON began on July 26.
In Morocco, they've been up against sides steeped in Nations Cup history - not least ten-time champions Nigeria - while themselves arriving with absolutely zero WAFCON pedigree.
They aren't some kind of sleeping football powerhouse, either; the men's team have only ever reached the Africa Cup of Nations on three separate occasions, winning two matches ever. This isn't an Egypt or a Senegal finally giving due consideration to the women's game.
While Malawi have local football passion, they lack any kind of substantial resume when it comes to the business end of continental competition.
Nor is their place in the FIFA World Ranking a historical anomaly; they've never been inside the world's top 100, peaking at 110, and began the competition ranked 32nd in Africa. Considering there are only 54 member associations, that's outside the top half of the continent's national teams. They are below the likes of Sierra Leone, Singapore, St Kitts and Nevis, Benin, Cook Islands, American Samoa, Mongolia and Bermuda.
Just qualifying for the competition was utterly unchartered territory, with the team's forays in the regional COSAFA Cup - which they won for the first time in 2023 - the closest they've come to this environment of sustained tournament football.
Little was expected of them in Morocco, not least because they'd been pitted against defending champions Nigeria, and a Zambia team with considerable Olympic, World Cup and WAFCON pedigree, packed with some of the continent's finest attackers. Even Egypt, given recent improvements, had appeared to be a potential banana skin, before falling short of expectations.
Indeed, it wouldn't have been a massive surprise had Malawi finished bottom of their group, let alone failed to qualify for the knockouts. As if things couldn't get any tougher, they were pitted against Nigeria in their opener in a veritable baptism of fire.
Reigning champions after completing 'Mission X' last year, the Falcons were the highest ranked side at the WAFCON, had competed in every previous edition, had never before missed a Women's World Cup, boasted some of Africa's biggest names, and were favourites to win the crown again.
Ranked 117 places ahead of Malawi, Nigeria were heavily fancied, yet the same defence that had looked so impervious for much of last year's WAFCON - admittedly, shorn of influential left back Ashleigh Plumptre - struggled to contain the devastating Chawinga sisters, Temwa and Tabitha.
�� HIGHLIGHTS: ���� 2-3 ����
Malawi get their first-ever win in a 5-goal thriller. #TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/7iEAmzBG8I
- CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) July 28, 2026
Each scored, six minutes apart, as Malawi took a 2-0 lead in the second half, and while Rasheedat Ajibade pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 92nd minute, Temwa added another there minutes later before Uchenna Kanu responded in the 99th.
A breathless conclusion and a historic defeat for Nigeria, whose failures dominated the headlines.
"The moment we beat Nigeria, the nation was happy," head coach Lovemore Fazili said on Saturday. "What more can we do now? We've made the final, and now [our people] are 200-percent happy."
Had Malawi done nothing else all tournament, it would have been one of the WAFCON's greatest shocks, but the Scorchers grew from this point.
There's a parallel here with Senegal at the 2002 men's World Cup; tournament debutants, broadly unknown, up against the reigning champions in their competition opener, pulling off a historic giant-killing, before further surpassing expectations in the competition.
Egypt were defeated 3-1 in Rabat - the COSAFA side taking a 3-0 lead before easing up late on - and while they fell to a 2-1 defeat by Zambia, conceding in the second minute, Tabitha's 72nd-minute goal ultimately proved enough to send them through on the specific head-to-head rules in use, at the expense of the She-polopolo.
It was also enough to take them through as group winners.
Against Ghana, in the quarterfinal, as they had done against Zambia, they fell behind, but rallied, before coming back to win 2-1, securing an unlikely World Cup ticket in the process.
Algeria were seen off 3-1 in the semis, with Malawi again taking control with two first-half goals before the Fennecs opened their account.
"I have been in this coaching career for a long time and have achieved a lot," Fazili added, "but reaching the WAFCON final is something extraordinary for me."
The last women's team to reach a final in their debut continental appearance were South Africa in 1995, the last men's team to do it were South Africa's men, AFCON winners in 1996.
Several elements of their campaign to date deserve further investigation.
First of all, the Scorchers have not had an easy run, having faced four of last year's quarterfinalists - beating three - including 2025 semifinalists Ghana and champions Nigeria.
They've also demonstrated that they can come back from adversity - notably against Ghana and Zambia - while also holding their nerve and finding new gears when opponents start upping their game - notably against Nigeria, Zambia (again), and Algeria.
�� HIGHLIGHTS: ���� 1-3 ����
History continues. Malawi are through to the final! ��#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/qeeXdwR7Fi
- CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) August 12, 2026
Finally, Malawi's run has not been that of a typical underdog in a major tournament, who has eked out unlikely draws, secured smash-and-grab freak 1-0s, or neutralised bigger opponents to sneak through on penalties.
This isn't Cape Verde at the men's World Cup this summer, nor Greece's men's team at the 2004 Euros...Malawi have been swashbuckling.
So far, they have scored 12 goals in five matches per date, averaging 2.4 goals per game. Even taking into account the tougher challenges they've faced in the knockouts, this still gives them the highest goals-per-game ratio of any team in the tournament, ahead of Zambia (1.75), Morocco (1.6) or Nigeria (1.5).
Inspired by the Chawinga sisters, but also a smattering of quality, including Rose Kadzere and Faith Chinzimu among others, they've been the WAFCON's great entertainers, as well as its great underdogs.
For any tournament debutants, it would be outrageous. For any team ranked 153rd in the world, it would be unthinkable. For Malawi to be both, and to have performed this well, it's historically significant.
The presence of Tabitha and Temwa, however, is an important caveat that needs to be taken into account.
While Malawi's ranking of 153rd in the world is a mechanical consequence of their performances during the period evaluated by FIFA, that number accounts for on-field showings in matches played - or not played - and doesn't consider the actual quality of the players available for a major tournament.
In this sense, Malawi are not typical of a team with such a lowly ranking.
In Temwa and Tabitha, they boast two of the finest women players in the game, both elite attackers, and they've given the Scorchers the kind of firepower that very few minnows in the history of international football could call upon. ,
Remarkably, the 16 home-based players in the squad have been drawn from a country without a functioning local league until last year.
Their presence adds another dimension to Malawi's run. Theirs is not just an impressive collective effort - like Greece or Cape Verde - but it's more reminiscent of George Weah inspiring Liberia to qualify for the AFCON, or to within a point of the 2002 World Cup.
Emmanuel Adebayor with Togo could be another example - the tiny West African nation never had, before or since, a player who could represent the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid or Arsenal - with the controversial striker taking Stephen Keshi's side to the 2006 World Cup.
But while Togo ultimately struggled at the World Cup, Weah's Liberia didn't escape the AFCON group stage in 1996 or 2002, the Chawingas have inspired Malawi to the WAFCON final.
What makes Malawi's run so incredible - with more dimensions than typical Cinderella runs - are these many layers.
They are tournament debutants who have reached the final, ranked so lowly, scoring more than anyone else, enduring a tough route, and boasting two of the tournament's outstanding individuals.
The likes of Croatia at the men's World Cup in 1998, or Bafana Bafana in 1996, had some of these elements, but these countries still had the pedigree, infrastructure, heritage, and wealth of talent...it's just that it had arrived - belatedly - in its existing form at the grandest stage.
Iceland at the Euros in 2016 didn't have the style of Malawi, nor went as deep in the competition, and perhaps Saudi Arabia at the 1984 Asian Cup is the closest historical comparison.
The Green Falcons, in their first ever appearance at a major competition, not only won the whole thing, but did so without losing a single game, while beating some of the continent's top sides in the process. They had the standout, come-from-behind results as well - notably drawing with South Korea after falling behind - although without the vibrant attacking displays of the Scorchers.
Similarly, while their footballing pedigree up to 1984 was minor, they would reach the next four finals, winning two. This tournament was the announcement of an Asian power - we just didn't know it yet - but the same is unlikely to be said of Malawi, who do not have the ecosystem or the clout of Saudi Arabia in the mid-80s.
While Kadzere and Chinzimu could become African superstars, the rest of the squad is still drawn from local teams and players based elsewhere in the continent, this is a decent collective strung on the shoulders of two elite sisters, and unlikely to be the beginning of a permanent shift in stature.
"I'll be happy, I'll be happy. Nothing else," Fazili concluded, when asked how he'd feel if Malawi actually lifted the title. "I'll be celebrating. That's our nation...and they're happy.
"It's the first time we've reached a final, and we also want to win it. So for tomorrow, let the best team win."
Understated words from a man who has written history already...and could be about to write the greatest chapter in this remarkable tale yet.