Mali national football team

Mali national football team
The Mali national football team (French: Équipe 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 13 occasions.
Mali were suspended by FIFA on 17 March 2017 due to 'government interference' with the national football association, namely dissolving its executive committee. However, the side was re-instated by FIFA on 29 April after the executive committee was re-introduced by the Malian government.
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, 2012 and 2013.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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
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.
2022
2023
Coaching staff
Coaching history
Caretaker managers are listed in italics.
Ben Oumar Sy (1960–66)
György Tóth (1966–70)
Karl-Heinz Weigang (1970–73)
Mykola Holovko (1979–82)
Kidian Diallo (1982–89)
Molobaly Sissoko (1989–93)
Mamadou Keïta (1993–97)
Christian Sarramagna (1998–2000)
Romano Mattè (2000–01)
Henryk Kasperczak (2001–02)
Christian Dalger (2002–03)
Henri Stambouli (2003–04)
Alain Moizan (2004)
Mamadou Keïta (2004–05)
Pierre Lechantre (2005–06)
Amadou Pathé Diallo (2006)
Jean-François Jodar (2006–08)
Stephen Keshi (2008–10)
Alain Giresse (2010–12)
Amadou Pathé Diallo (2012)
Patrice Carteron (2012–13)
Amadou Pathé Diallo (2013)
Henryk Kasperczak (2013–15)
Alain Giresse (2015–17)
Mohamed Magassouba (2017–2022)
Éric Chelle (2022–)
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against on 8 September 2023.
Caps and goals updated after the match against on 8 September 2023.
Recent call-ups
The following players have been called up for Mali in the last 12 months.
DCL 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
Players in bold are still active with Mali.
Competition records
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations
Mali have never won the Africa Cup of Nations; their best result at the tournament was runners-up in 1972. Mali have qualified for the tournament thirteen 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.
African Nations Championship
Mali has competed in five African Nations Championship tournaments, finishing as runners-up twice.
African Games
Head-to-head record
Team honours
Continental
Africa Cup of Nations
Runners-up (1): 1972
African Nations Championship
Runners-up (2): 2016, 2020
Other tournaments
Amilcar Cabral Cup
Champions (3): 1989, 1997, 2007
Runners-up (4): –
Qatar International Friendship Tournament
Third place (1): 2009–10
Notes
See also
Football in Mali
References
External links
Mali FF (archived 28 January 2020)
Mali Football Portal
Mali at CAF
Mali at FIFA
Courtney, Barrie. Mali – List of International Matches at RSSSF.com (last updated: 19 August 2010)
African national association football teams