Tawanda Blessing Chirewa (born 12 October 2003) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. Born in England, he represents

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

internationally.

Club career

Ipswich Town

Chirewa made his debut for Ipswich Town on 12 November 2019, appearing as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 away loss to

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

group stage match, he became the second youngest player to make his first-team debut for the club, after

Connor Wickham Connor Neil Ralph Wickham (born 31 March 1993) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward. He is currently a free agent. He has previously represented Ipswich Town F.C., Ip ...

, at 16 years and 31 days old. On 14 July 2020, it was announced that Chirewa had signed a two-year scholarship with Ipswich. He signed his first professional contract with Ipswich on 2 November 2020, signing a deal until 2022, with the option of an additional year extension.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 18 September 2023, Chirewa signed for

club

, joining the club's Under-21s side. Chirewa made his debut Wolves First XI appearance, as a second-half substitute, in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

away to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 5 January 2024. Chirewa made his Premier League debut, as a second-half substitute, in a 0–0 draw away to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

on 22 January 2024. Chirewa made his first appearance in a

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the name given to any local derby between England, English association football, football teams West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion, Walsall F.C, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverhampton Wan ...

in the Fourth Round of the F.A. Cup, in a 2–0 victory against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an All-seater stadium, all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F.C. ...

on 28 January 2024. His appearance came as a second-half substitute after crowd unrest breaking out in sections of the ground designated for West Brom supporters led the game to be suspended for half an hour. On 26 August 2024, Chirewa signed on loan with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

until the end of the season. Chirewa made his debut a day later in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

at Barrow. A

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

sustained on international duty would rule him of two games in September. Chirewa made his first start for Derby County at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

on 1 October 2024. After this match, he sustained a "freak"

quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

injury which is expected to rule him out of action for four to eight weeks. After making only six appearances for Derby, Chirewa's loan was ended early after Derby activated an option to end the loan on 13 January 2025. On 3 February 2025, Chrewa signed with

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

on loan until the end of the season.

International career

In March 2024, Chirewa was called up by the Zimbabwe national team. Chirewa made his debut for Zimbabwe on 7 June 2024 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

at the

Orlando Stadium Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is the home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team that plays in the Premier Soccer League a ...

in Johannesburg, South Africa. He started the game and played 68 minutes, as Lesotho won the game 2–0. He scored his first international goal in the next game four days later, a 3–1 loss to South Africa.

Personal life

Born in England, Chirewa is of Zimbabwean descent.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Zimbabwe's goal tally first.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chirewa, Tawanda 2003 births Living people Footballers from Chelmsford Zimbabwean men's footballers Zimbabwe men's international footballers English men's footballers English people of Zimbabwean descent Men's association football midfielders Ipswich Town F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen