Mali national football team

Mali
Nickname(s)	Les Aigles (The Eagles)
Association	Malian Football Federation
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	WAFU (West Africa)
Head coach	Mohamed Magassouba
Captain	Molla Wagué
Most caps	Seydou Keita (102)[1]
Top scorer	Seydou Keita (25)
Home stadium	Stade du 26 Mars
FIFA code	MLI
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	57 (10 December 2020)[2]
Highest	23 (June 2013)
Lowest	117 (October 2001)
First international
	Mali 4–3 Central African Republic ; (Madagascar; 13 April 1960)
Biggest win
	Mali 11–0 Mauritania ; (Senegal; 1 October 1972)
Biggest defeat
	Algeria 7–0 Mali ; (Algeria; 13 November 1988) ; Kuwait 8–1 Mali ; (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 5 September 1997)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	12 (first in 1972)
Best result	Runners-up (1972)
African Nations Championship
Appearances	3 (first in 2011)
Best result	Runners-up (2016)

The Mali national football team (French: Équipe nationale de football du Mali) represents Mali in men's international football and is governed by the Malian Football Federation. The team's nickname is Les Aigles. They represent both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

While Mali is a major youth football power in both Africa and the world, they have never qualified for any senior FIFA World Cup finals in history. They have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations on 12 occasions.

Mali were suspended by FIFA on 17 March 2017 due to 'government interference' with the national football association, namely dissolving its executive committee.[3] However, the side was re-instated by FIFA on 29 April after the executive committee was re-introduced by the Malian government.[4]

History

Mali reached the 1972 African Nations Cup final, but lost 3–2 to Congo. They failed to qualify for the finals again until 1994 when they reached the semi-finals, an achievement repeated in 2002, 2004 and 2012.

They played their first World Cup qualifier in the year 2000. As part of the CAF's qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup, Mali lost in the preliminary round to Libya. Two years later, the country hosted the 2002 African Cup of Nations.[5]

Mali's under-23's team managed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. The team coached by Cheick Kone managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament before losing to Italy.[6]

In the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Mali beat Guinea-Bissau in the preliminaries. In the resulting second round, Mali finished fifth in its group. On 27 March 2005, riots broke out in Bamako after Mali lost a World Cup qualifier to Togo, 2–1 on a last minute goal.[7]

In the 2010 African Nations Cup, Mali made football headlines for coming back from losing 4–0 with eleven minutes left to level 4–4 with Angola.[8] It is considered to be one of the best comebacks in recent memory, alongside Sweden's famous comeback against Germany in a 2014 World Cup qualifier with a same scoreline.

Team kit

Manufacturer	Period
Kappa	1998–2003
Baliston	2003–2007
Airness	2007–

Competition records

Africa Cup of Nations record

Mali has never won the Africa Cup of Nations, however their best result at the tournament was Runners-up – in 1972. Mali have qualified for the tournament twelve times in total, finishing as runners-up once, third twice, and fourth three times. Prior to 2008, each time Mali qualified, they reached the knockout stage having only qualified four times before then.

Africa Cup of Nations record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1957	Part of France								Part of France
1959	Part of France								Part of France
1962	Did not enter								Did not enter
1963	Did not enter								Did not enter
1965	Did not qualify								Did not qualify
1968
1970
1972	Runners-up	2nd	5	1	3	1	11	11	4	3	1	0	7	2
1974	Did not qualify								4	1	3	0	8	6
1976									2	1	0	1	5	3
1978									2	1	0	1	1	2
1980									Did not enter
1982									4	2	0	2	7	7
1984									4	2	0	2	5	6
1986									4	1	2	1	4	9
1988									Withdrew
1990									6	2	3	1	8	7
1992									6	0	3	3	2	7
1994	Fourth place	4th	5	2	0	3	4	8	6	3	1	2	8	7
1996	Did not qualify								10	5	1	4	15	10
1998									6	3	0	3	9	9
2000									8	3	4	1	8	3
2002	Fourth place	4th	6	2	2	2	5	5	Qualified as hosts
2004	Fourth place	4th	6	3	1	2	10	10	6	4	1	1	9	2
2006	Did not qualify								12	4	2	6	15	15
2008	Group stage	10th	3	1	1	1	1	3	6	3	3	0	10	1
2010	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	7	6	12	6	3	3	21	15
2012	Third place	3rd	6	3	1	2	6	5	6	3	1	2	9	6
2013	Third place	3rd	6	2	2	2	7	8	2	2	0	0	7	1
2015	Group stage	10th	3	0	3	0	3	3	6	3	0	3	8	6
2017	Group stage	12th	3	0	2	1	1	2	6	5	1	0	13	3
2019	Round of 16	11th	4	2	1	1	6	3	5	3	2	0	7	2
2021	Qualified								4	3	1	0	7	3
2023	To be determined								To be determined
2025	To be determined								To be determined
Total	Runners-up	12/33	50	17	17	16	61	64	133	63	32	37	193	132

African Nations Championship record

Mali has competed in four African Nations Championship tournaments, finishing as runners-up once.

African Nations Championship record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2009	Did not qualify								2	0	2	0	0	0
2011	Group stage	13th	3	0	1	2	1	3	2	1	1	0	3	1
2014	Quarter-finals	8th	4	2	1	1	6	5	2	1	0	1	3	2
2016	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	2	1	6	6	4	2	2	0	7	4
2018	Did not qualify								4	1	2	1	6	3
2020	Qualified
Total	Runners-up	4/6	13	5	4	4	13	14	14	5	7	2	19	10

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter								Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966	Withdrew								Withdrew
1970	Did not enter								Did not enter
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994	Withdrew								Withdrew
1998	Withdrew								Withdrew
2002	Did not qualify								2	1	0	1	3	4
2006									12	4	2	6	15	15
2010									16	8	3	5	30	21
2014									6	2	2	2	7	7
2018									8	1	4	3	4	10
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/23	0	0	0	0	0	0	44	16	11	17	59	57

African Games record

Football at the African Games has been an under-23 tournament since 1991.

African Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1965	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1991–present	See Mali national under-23 football team
Total	4/4	0	0	0	0	0	0

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win Draw Loss

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Mohamed Magassouba
Assistant Coach	Fousseni Diawara
Goalkeeper Coach	Mahamadou Sidibé
Youth Coach	Jonas Komla

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Namibia on 13 and 17 November 2020 respectively.
Caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2020, after the match against Namibia.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Djigui Diarra	(1995-02-27) 27 February 1995	40	0	Stade Malien
1GK	Ibrahim Mounkoro	(1990-02-23) 23 February 1990	2	0	Mazembe
1GK	Aly Yirango	(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994	2	0	Créteil-Lusitanos

2DF	Hamari Traoré	(1992-01-27) 27 January 1992	28	1	Rennes
2DF	Mamadou Fofana	(1998-01-21) 21 January 1998	19	1	Metz
2DF	Falaye Sacko	(1995-05-01) 1 May 1995	13	1	Vitória de Guimarães
2DF	Massadio Haïdara	(1992-12-02) 2 December 1992	6	0	Lens
2DF	Boubakar Kouyaté	(1997-04-15) 15 April 1997	6	0	Metz
2DF	Charles Traoré	(1992-01-01) 1 January 1992	3	0	Nantes
2DF	Sikou Niakaté	(1999-07-10) 10 July 1999	0	0	Guingamp

3MF	Adama Malouda Traoré	(1995-06-05) 5 June 1995	30	6	Metz
3MF	Abdoulay Diaby	(1991-05-21) 21 May 1991	24	7	Anderlecht
3MF	Moussa Doumbia	(1994-08-15) 15 August 1994	24	4	Reims
3MF	Lassana Coulibaly	(1996-04-10) 10 April 1996	25	0	Angers
3MF	Adama Noss Traoré	(1995-06-28) 28 June 1995	17	3	Hatayspor
3MF	Amadou Haidara	(1998-01-31) 31 January 1998	17	2	RB Leipzig
3MF	Diadie Samassékou	(1996-01-11) 11 January 1996	17	1	1899 Hoffenheim
3MF	Moussa Djénépo	(1998-06-15) 15 June 1998	16	2	Southampton
3MF	Cheick Doucouré	(2000-01-08) 8 January 2000	7	0	Lens
3MF	Hadi Sacko	(1994-03-24) 24 March 1994	5	0	Yukatel Denizlispor
3MF	Mohamed Camara	(2000-01-06) 6 January 2000	4	1	Red Bull Salzburg

4FW	Kalifa Coulibaly	(1991-08-21) 21 August 1991	21	2	Nantes
4FW	Sékou Koïta	(1999-11-28) 28 November 1999	14	3	Red Bull Salzburg
4FW	El Bilal Touré	(2001-10-03) 3 October 2001	3	2	Reims

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Mali in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mamadou Samassa	(1990-02-16) 16 February 1990	14	0	Sivasspor	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020
GK	Adama Kéïta	(1990-05-03) 3 May 1990	1	0	CIK	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020

DF	Molla Wagué (captain)	(1991-02-21) 21 February 1991	39	4	Amiens	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020

MF	Yves Bissouma	(1996-08-30) 30 August 1996	16	3	Brighton & Hove Albion	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020
MF	Kévin Zohi	(1997-08-18) 18 August 1997	1	0	Strasbourg	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020
MF	Abdoulaye Doucouré	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993	0	0	Everton	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020
MF	Adama Traoré Diarra	(1996-01-25) 25 January 1996	0	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020 ^DEC

FW	Moussa Marega	(1991-04-14) 14 April 1991	25	3	Porto	v. Ghana, 9 October 2020
^DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. ^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^RET Player has retired from international football. ^SUS Suspended from the national team.

Records

As of 17 November 2020[9]

Players in bold text are still active with Mali.

Most Caps
#	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Seydou Keita	102	25	1998–2015
2	Mahamadou Sidibé	97	0	1996–2010
3	Bassala Touré	95	17	1992–2008
4	Adama Tamboura	89	0	2004–2015
5	Adama Coulibaly	85	1	1998–2014
6	Soumaila Coulibaly	83	14	1995–2009
7	Mahamadou Diarra	73	7	1998–2012
8	Modibo Maïga	58	12	2007–2016
9	Ousmane Farota	57	0	1985–1997
10	Fousseni Diawara	56	0	2001–2015

Top Goalscorers
#	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Seydou Keita	25	102	0.25	1998–2015
2	Frédéric Kanouté	23	39	0.77	2004–2010
3	Bassala Touré	17	95	0.18	1994–2008
3	Cheick Diabaté	15	38	0.39	2005–2016
4	Yaya Dissa	14	42	0.33	1995–2001
4	Soumaila Coulibaly	14	83	0.17	1995–2009
6	Modibo Maïga	12	58	0.21	2007–2016
7	Salif Keïta	11	26	0.42	1964–1972
8	Mahamadou Dissa	10	35	0.29	1997–2008
8	Mamadou Diallo	10	45	0.22	2001–2010
10	Bakary Sako	9	21	0.43	2014–
	Dramane Coulibaly	9	31	0.29	1998–2006
	Modibo Sidibé	9	45	0.2	1993–1997

Head to head records

Team	Confederation	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	CAF	24	10	2	12	22	36	–14
Angola	CAF	4	1	2	1	8	5	+3
Benin	CAF	16	8	7	1	27	16	+11
Botswana	CAF	7	6	0	1	19	5	+14
Burkina Faso	CAF	21	13	3	5	36	20	+16
Cameroon	CAF	6	0	2	4	3	8	–5
Cape Verde	CAF	7	3	2	2	10	4	+6
Chad	CAF	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2
China PR	AFC	2	1	0	1	3	5	–2
Congo	CAF	10	5	2	3	14	9	+5
DR Congo	CAF	6	3	1	2	11	9	+2
Croatia	UEFA	1	0	0	1	1	2	–1
Egypt	CAF	10	4	2	4	8	8	0
Equatorial Guinea	CAF	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5
Eritrea	CAF	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
Ethiopia	CAF	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1
Gabon	CAF	12	2	5	5	10	16	–6
Gambia	CAF	18	7	5	6	22	16	+6
Ghana	CAF	17	3	6	8	14	28	–14
Guinea	CAF	39	10	17	12	43	43	0
Guinea-Bissau	CAF	12	9	2	1	26	9	+17
Iran	AFC	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Ivory Coast	CAF	26	2	8	16	17	47	–30
Japan	AFC	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Kenya	CAF	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2
North Korea	AFC	1	0	0	1	0	1	–1
South Korea	AFC	1	0	0	1	1	3	–2
Kuwait	AFC	3	0	0	3	4	10	–10
Liberia	CAF	10	5	3	2	19	11	+8
Libya	CAF	7	3	1	3	9	10	–1
Lithuania	UEFA	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Madagascar	CAF	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Malawi	CAF	5	3	1	1	8	5	+3
Mauritania	CAF	30	18	7	5	60	23	+37
Morocco	CAF	19	5	6	8	12	31	–19
Mozambique	CAF	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1
Namibia	CAF	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2
Niger	CAF	8	5	2	1	10	4	+6
Nigeria	CAF	9	1	3	5	5	12	–7
Oman	AFC	2	0	1	1	1	2	–1
Qatar	AFC	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Rwanda	CAF	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1
Saudi Arabia	AFC	2	1	0	1	4	6	–2
Senegal	CAF	32	8	12	12	33	41	–8
Seychelles	CAF	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5
Sierra Leone	CAF	13	4	7	2	17	9	+8
South Africa	CAF	4	1	2	1	4	2	+2
South Sudan	CAF	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5
Sudan	CAF	4	2	1	1	7	4	+3
Togo	CAF	14	6	2	6	23	15	+8
Tunisia	CAF	8	4	0	4	8	8	0
Uganda	CAF	4	1	2	1	8	4	+4
United Arab Emirates	AFC	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Zambia	CAF	5	0	2	3	3	8	–5
Zimbabwe	CAF	6	2	1	3	4	5	–1

Previous squads

Africa Cup of Nations

Coaches

Dates	Name
1960–66	Ben Oumar Sy
1966–70	György Tóth
1970–73	Karl-Heinz Weigang
1973–79	empty
1979–82	Mykola Holovko
1982–89	Kidian Diallo
1989–93	Molobaly Sissoko
1993–97	Mamadou Keïta
1998–2000	Christian Sarramagna
2000–01	Romano Mattè
2001–02	Henryk Kasperczak
2002–03	Christian Dalger

Dates	Name
2003–04	Henri Stambouli
2004	Alain Moizan
2004–05	Mamadou Keïta
2005–06	Pierre Lechantre
2006	Amadou Pathé Diallo (caretaker)
2006–08	Jean-François Jodar
2008–10	Stephen Keshi
2010–12	Alain Giresse
2012	Amadou Pathé Diallo (caretaker)
2012–13	Patrice Carteron
2013	Amadou Pathé Diallo (caretaker)
2013–15	Henryk Kasperczak

Dates	Name
2015–17	Alain Giresse
2017–	Mohamed Magassouba

Team honours

Last updated 14 August 2017

Continental tournaments

Africa Cup of Nations

Runners-up (1):

1972

African Nations Championship