Mali national football team

Mali

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Les Aigles (The Eagles)
Association	Fédération Malienne de Football
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Stephen Keshi, 2008-
Captain	Mahamadou Diarra
Home stadium	Stade 26 mars
FIFA code	MLI
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	47
Highest	35 (March 2007)
Lowest	117 (October 2001)
First international
Mali 4 - 3 Central African Rep. (Madagascar; 13 April 1960)
Biggest win
Mali 6 - 0 Mauritania (Mali; 1 May 1975)
Biggest defeat
Algeria 7 - 0 Mali (Algeria; 13 November 1988) Kuwait 8 - 1 Mali (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 5 September 1997)
African Nations Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 1972)
Best result	Second place, 1972

Players from the Mali national squad warm up before the Mali-Lithuania friendly at Stade de Marville - La Courneuve (France), 6 February 2007.

The Mali national football team, nicknamed Les Aigles (The Eagles), is the national team of Mali and is controlled by the Fédération Malienne de Football. They have never qualified for the World Cup finals; in fact, although the association was affiliated with FIFA in 1962, Mali's first World Cup qualifier wasn't played until 2000.

History

Despite not playing their first actual World Cup qualifier until 2000, Mali has a long and colourful football history.

In 1972, a team containing stars like Kidian Diallo as well as Salif Keita, Fantamady Keita and Bako Toure (all three either played or would play top-flight football in France) reached the African Nations Cup final but lost 3-2 to Congo.

Further appearances in the Nations Cup eluded them until 1994, but noteworthy stars of the 70s and 80s included Drissa "Poker" Traore, Gaoussou Samaké, Mohamed Djila and Abdoulaye Kaloga.

In 1994, a side containing goalkeeper Osumane Farota (who was voted the tournament's outstanding goalkeeper) and midfielder Pathé Diallo stunned hosts Tunisia in their opening match and went on to reach the semi-finals.

Since 2002, Mali has re-emerged as a significant force in African football, but Nations Cup success and World Cup qualification has eluded them so far.

In March 2005, riots broke out in Bamako after Mali lost a World Cup qualifier to Togo, 2-1 on a last minute goal.

Mali Football Achievements

Amilcar Cabral Cup :

• 3 Times Champion (1989, 1997, 2007)
• 4 Times Runners-up

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter
• 1966 - Withdrew
• 1970 to 1990 - Did not enter
• 1994 - Withdrew
• 1998 - Withdrew
• 2002 - Did not qualify
• 2006 - Did not qualify

African Nations Cup record

• 1957 to 1963 - Did not enter
• 1965 to 1970 - Did not qualify
• 1972 - Second place
• 1974 - Did not qualify
• 1976 - Did not qualify
• 1978 - Disqualified
• 1980 - Did not enter
• 1982 to 1986 - Did not qualify
• 1988 - Withdrew
• 1990 - Did not qualify
• 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1994 - Fourth place
• 1996 - Did not qualify
• 1998 - Did not qualify
• 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2002 - Fourth place
• 2004 - Fourth place
• 2006 - Did not qualify
• 2008 - Round 1

Notable players

• Adama Coulibaly
• Mamady Sidibe
• Dramane Coulibaly
• Soumaila Coulibaly
• Cheick Oumar Dabo
• Mamadou Diallo
• Souleymane Diamoutene
• Mahamadou Diarra
• Fousseni Diawara
• Frédéric Kanouté
• Salif Keita
• Sidi Yaya Keita
• Boubacar Koné
• Amadou Konte
• Djibril Sidibé
• Mohamed Lamine Sissoko
• Adama Tamboura
• Bassala Touré
• Djimi Traoré
• Dramane Traoré

Notable coaches

• Cheick Oumar Koné

Current squad

The following players were called for the friendly match against Sudan on 22 June 2008.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Mahamadou Sidibè	(1978-10-04) 4 October 1978	44	0	Ethnikos Achna FC
16	1GK	Soumaila Diakite	(1984-08-25) 25 August 1984			Stade Malien
2	2DF	Adama Tamboura	(1985-05-18) 18 May 1985			Helsingborgs IF
3	2DF	Amadou Sidibé	(1986-02-19) 19 February 1986	4	0	AJ Auxerre
4	2DF	Adama Coulibaly	(1980-10-09) 9 October 1980			AJ Auxerre
5	2DF	Souleymane Diamoutene	(1983-01-30) 30 January 1983	45	2	AS Roma
15	2DF	Cédric Kanté	(1979-08-06) 6 August 1979			OGC Nice
6	3MF	Mahamadou Diarra (captain)	(1981-05-18) 18 May 1981	22	5	Real Madrid
7	3MF	Modibo Maïga	(1986-09-03) 3 September 1986			Le Mans UC72
10	3MF	Soumaila Coulibaly	(1978-04-15) 15 April 1978	57	0	Borussia Mönchengladbach
11	3MF	Sidi Yaya Keita	(1985-03-20) 20 March 1985	3	2	RC Lens
12	3MF	Seydou Keita	(1980-01-16) 16 January 1980	20	3	Barcelona
14	3MF	Drissa Diakité	(1985-02-18) 18 February 1985			OGC Nice
18	3MF	Mohamed Sissoko	(1985-01-22) 22 January 1985	14	1	Juventus
9	4FW	Frédéric Kanouté	(1977-09-02) 2 September 1977	18	8	Sevilla
13	4FW	Dramane Traoré	(1982-02-17) 17 February 1982	16	4	FC Kuban Krasnodar
17	4FW	Tenema N'Diaye	(1981-02-13) 13 February 1981	8	1	Tours FC
21	4FW	Cheik Diabaté	(1988-04-25) 25 April 1988	4	0	AC Ajaccio

Recent Call Ups 2008

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
2	4FW	Aboubacar Tambadou (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)				Stade Malien
7	4FW	Mamady Sidibe (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)	(1979-12-18) 18 December 1979			Stoke City
11	3MF	Djibril Sidibe (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)	(1982-03-23) 23 March 1982			CS Sedan
13	4FW	Mamadou Diallo (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)	(1982-04-17) 17 April 1982			Al-Jazeera
2	2DF	Kalifa Cisse (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1981-09-01) 1 September 1981	1	0	Reading
10	4FW	Mamadou Bagayoko (WCQ v. Sudan 22 June)	(1979-05-21) 21 May 1979			Nantes
14	2DF	Moussa Coulibaly (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1981-05-19) 19 May 1981			MC Alger
16	1GK	Cheikh Oumar Bathily (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1982-10-10) October 10, 1982			Djoliba AC
17	3MF	Mahamane Traoré (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1988-08-31) 31 August 1988			OGC Nice
18	3MF	Souleymane Dembélé (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1984-09-03) 3 September 1984			Djoliba AC

The following players have been called up for the team in 2008.

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Goalkeepers
Soumaila Diakite	August 25, 1984	Stade Malien		v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Oumar Sissoko	September 13, 1987	FC Metz	0 (0)	v Chad, June 7, 2008
Defenders
Boubacar Koné	August 21, 1984	MAS Fes		v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Sammy Traoré	February 25, 1976	Paris Saint-Germain		v Ivory Coast, January 29, 2008
Midfielders
Soumaila Coulibaly	April 15, 1978	Borussia Mönchengladbach		v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Drissa Diakité	February 18, 1985	OGC Nice		v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Mohamed Sissoko	January 22, 1985	Juventus		v Congo, June 1, 2008
Bassala Touré	February 21, 1976	Levadiakos		v Ivory Coast, January 29, 2008
Strikers
Bakary Diakité	November 9, 1980	SV Wehen	2 (0)	v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Mahamadou Dissa	May 18, 1979	KSV Roeselare		v Sudan, June 14, 2008
Dramane Traoré	June 17, 1982	Lokomotiv Moscow		v Ivory Coast, January 29, 2008
Mamady Sidibe	December 18, 1979	Stoke City		v Benin, January 21, 2008

References

• French Language Wikipedia Article fr:Équipe du Mali de football, retrieved 2008-03-04.
• www.footmali.comtout sur le football Malien
• Mali at the FIFA website.
• www.malifootball.com/
• Mali: Historic Results of Men's International Matches. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, retrieved 2008-03-04.