CAIRO (Egypt) - Malawi's five-time champions Bravehearts made their debut in the Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA) in 2025 eager to leave a mark, but return to the Southern Africa nation with a bagful of lessons.
Despite leaving Cairo, Egypt, without a win in four games, head coach Dominic Munyenyembe admits that the experience has been eye-opening. He further affirms that the club is looking forward to returning bigger and better to compete for titles.
The biggest takeaway has been the need for more investment - Tamandani Mazulu
The debut at the premier women's continental club competition has been a culmination of a decade's journey for the Lilongwe-based outfit that has enjoyed similar success with the men's team that has competed back-to-back in the FIBA-run Road to BAL in 2024 and 2025. The team was founded in 2015 by businessman and basketball enthusiast-turned-coach Griffin Kalua. It was promoted to the top-tier league in 2017 and has dominated ever since, winning its fifth title in 2025.
Head coach Munyenyembe explained to FIBA.Basketball how the team came to be, saying: "The vision of this team came from Kalua, after finding some young children playing basketball during school hours because they couldn't afford the fees."
"He started a scholarship program targeting talented players, with the idea of changing lives one hoop at a time, and it has been a huge success so far." After immense success at home and in the region as they have toured South Africa and Zambia among others countries in the south featuring in tournaments, Kalua entered the team in this year's Zone 6 WBLA qualifiers in Namibia, and on first attempt, they finished second behind winners Sporting Clube de Luanda to qualify.
Bravehearts' debut on the continental stage has been a baptism by fire, going on a 0-4 run to finish 12th, but for coach Munyenyembe, the focus is on the positives. The side opened their campaign with a 66-42 loss to DR Congo's CNSS, a game they turned the ball over 50 times, but continued to show incredible improvement despite losing to APR (92-37).
Then, they fell to ASC Ville de Dakar (88-45) to finish last in Group C. They lost the classification game 72-54 to Cote d'Ivoire's Friend's Basketball Association (FBA). Coach Munyenyembe continued: "Being at the WBLA has been a huge learning opportunity for both players and the bench.
"Our opening two games were not good but the players continued to adjust to this high level and we played better in our last two. The teams here are very competitive, with professionals in every team and this gives us a challenge as we head home; to work on our game so when we compete again it is at the highest level. "I am not disappointed with our performance, the players did well and what matters is the experience we picked and how motivated the squad is to implement what we learned. We have set the tone for Southern Africa women's teams and I believe if we put in work at the regional level, we will have more teams participating as opposed to having Mozambique's teams dominate here."
His sentiments were echoed by Tamandani Mazulu who admits facing players from the biggest leagues, including the WNBA, has been eye-opening, further promising that Bravehearts would be a transformed side come next competition. "The exposure has been great. We don't compete like this down South. We have seen how other women play and we needed that panel beating. The biggest takeaway has been the need for more investment and professionalism from all stakeholders in Malawi to take our basketball to the next level," Mazulu, a beneficiary of the team's scholarship program who has just graduated from university in Malawi, concluded. FIBA