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

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 (age 45)	44	0	Ethnikos Achna FC
16	1GK	Soumaila Diakite	(1984-08-25) 25 August 1984 (age 39)			Stade Malien

2	2DF	Adama Tamboura	(1985-05-18) 18 May 1985 (age 39)	25	0	Helsingborgs IF
3	2DF	Amadou Sidibé	(1986-02-19) 19 February 1986 (age 38)	4	0	AJ Auxerre
4	2DF	Adama Coulibaly	(1980-10-09) 9 October 1980 (age 43)	45	1	AJ Auxerre
5	2DF	Souleymane Diamoutene	(1983-01-30) 30 January 1983 (age 41)	45	2	AS Roma
15	2DF	Cédric Kanté	(1979-08-06) 6 August 1979 (age 44)	25	0	OGC Nice

6	3MF	Mahamadou Diarra (captain)	(1981-05-18) 18 May 1981 (age 43)	22	5	Real Madrid
7	3MF	Modibo Maïga	(1986-09-03) 3 September 1986 (age 37)			Le Mans UC72
10	3MF	Soumaila Coulibaly	(1978-04-15) 15 April 1978 (age 46)	57	0	Borussia Mönchengladbach
11	3MF	Sidi Yaya Keita	(1985-03-20) 20 March 1985 (age 39)	8	3	RC Lens
12	3MF	Seydou Keita	(1980-01-16) 16 January 1980 (age 44)	20	3	Barcelona
14	3MF	Drissa Diakité	(1985-02-18) 18 February 1985 (age 39)	14	0	OGC Nice
18	3MF	Mohamed Sissoko	(1985-01-22) 22 January 1985 (age 39)	14	1	Juventus

9	4FW	Frédéric Kanouté	(1977-09-02) 2 September 1977 (age 46)	18	8	Sevilla
13	4FW	Dramane Traoré	(1982-02-17) 17 February 1982 (age 42)	16	4	FC Kuban Krasnodar
17	4FW	Tenema N'Diaye	(1981-02-13) 13 February 1981 (age 43)	8	1	Tours FC
21	4FW	Cheik Diabaté	(1988-04-25) 25 April 1988 (age 36)	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 (age 44)			Stoke City
11	3MF	Djibril Sidibe (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)	(1982-03-23) 23 March 1982 (age 42)			CS Sedan
13	4FW	Mamadou Diallo (WCQ v. Congo, 7 September)	(1982-04-17) 17 April 1982 (age 42)			Al-Jazeera
2	2DF	Kalifa Cisse (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1981-09-01) 1 September 1981 (age 42)	1	0	Reading
10	4FW	Mamadou Bagayoko (WCQ v. Sudan 22 June)	(1979-05-21) 21 May 1979 (age 45)			Nantes
14	2DF	Moussa Coulibaly (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1981-05-19) 19 May 1981 (age 43)			MC Alger
16	1GK	Cheikh Oumar Bathily (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1982-10-10) October 10, 1982 (age 41)			Djoliba AC
17	3MF	Mahamane Traoré (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1988-08-31) 31 August 1988 (age 35)			OGC Nice
18	3MF	Souleymane Dembélé (WCQ v. Sudan, 22 June)	(1984-09-03) 3 September 1984 (age 39)			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	2 (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.

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v t e 2008 Africa Cup of Nations finalists
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Qualification Squads