January 2, 2025
Today was an opportunity to watch a league game from Mali as 10th placed Etoiles Du Mande took on 2nd placed Onze Createurs.
Global coverage of the Malian Premiere Division is very limited, with little more than results and league tables available on the internet, although some information can be found on Facebook.
Mali
Mali is a landlocked country in north-west Africa and terms of area is the 8th largest country on the continent. It is bordered by Algeria, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Senegal, and has a population of around 25 million people.
The Sahara desert covers the north of the country but the Niger and Senegal rivers flow through the south of the country, which is where the majority of the population live.
The legendary town of Timbuktu is in the north of Mali, but Bamako is the capital, where around 4.5 million people live.
Mali achieved independence from France in 1960. There are 13 official languages with Bambara spoken by around half of the population, but although French has been removed from the list, it remains the working language and is used for most official communications and by the media.
Mali National Team
Mali are currently ranked 51st by FIFA, having been as high as 23rd in 2013.
They have never qualified for the World Cup Finals but have played in the final stages of the Africa Cup of Nations on 12 occasions, including 11 of the past 12 competitions. They finished third in 2012 and 2013, losing semi-finals to Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso respectively, but beat Ghana in both years in the Third Place Play-offs.
Mali have qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals, topping and finishing unbeaten in a group containing Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Eswatini.
However, Mali are struggling in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers. In their four games played to date they beat Chad ( H 3-1 ), drew with Central African Republic ( H 1-1 ) and Madagascar ( A 0-0 ) but lost to Ghana ( H 1-2 ). The Comoros Islands are the other country in the group and are joint top along with Ghana.
Mali’s record cap holder with 102 appearances is midfielder Seydou Keita, who played for Barcelona, Lens, Sevilla and Roma, and is also their record goal scorer on 25 goals.
Ex-West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute scored 23 goals in 38 appearances whilst other Malians to have played in the Premier League in England include defender Djimi Traore and midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, who both played for Liverpool.
There are four Mali internationals currently playing regularly in the Premier League, namely Yves Bissouma at Tottenham and previously for Brighton ( 38 caps ), Boubacar Traore at Wolves ( 4 caps ), Chieck Doucoure with Crystal Palace ( 16 caps ) and Everon’s Abdoulaye Doucoure ( 2 caps ). 18 year old Mamadou Doumbia ( 3 caps ) is with Watford, whilst Brighton’s highly rated 19 year old Malick Yalcouyé is on loan with Sturm Graz.
As a sign of the times, of the 25 players called up for Mali’s most recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, only three play their football in Mali.
Malian Premiere Division
The Mali Premier Division was formed in 1966 and for sponsorship reasons is currently known as Ligue 1 Orange Mali. Only three clubs had ever won the championship, all based in the capital Bamako, with Djoliba AC winning 24 titles, Stade Malien with 23 and AS Real Bamako with 7.
Djoliba are the current champions and are competing in the 2024/25 CAF Champions League. After receiving a walkover against Central African Republic side Red Star de Bangui, they beat Togolese champions ASKO Kara 1-0 both home and away to reach the group stages.
Djoliba were hammered 0-4 at four times CAF Champions Esperance du Tunis in their first group match, but played out two 0-0 home draws, against Egyptian runners-up Pyramids and Sagrada Esperenca from Angola.
Runners-up and Cup Winners Stade Malien entered the 2024/25 CAF Confederations Cup, and after a bye in the first round overcame Liberian Cup Winners Paynesville 3-2 on aggregate, winning the second leg 3-1 in Bamako. In the group stages, they are currently in second place after three games having started with an impressive 2-0 home win over South African side Stellenbosch, after which they drew 1-1 in Angola against Desportivo da Lunda Sul before losing 0-1 in Morocco to AS Berkane. With two home games to come, they will fancy their chances of reaching the knockout rounds.
There are currently 14 sides in the Premiere Division, 11 of which are based in Bamako, with just Bakaridjan from Segou, Bougouba and Bougouni representing the provinces. However, all matches are being played across stadiums in and around Bamako.
The season is typically played between late November and August, and the season has now reached week 5.
Academie des Etoiles Du Mande
Etoiles Du Mande are a football academy and are playing in the Premiere Division for the first time ever after promotion last season. With presumably their players seeking professional contracts abroad, the Stars have a reasonably informative Facebook page.
The Stars won their opening game with a 2-0 victory over Afrique Football Elite, with centre forward Issa Niare scoring a goal in each half. They then next hosted champions Djoliba but fell to a narrow 1-2 defeat, with Niare again on target, but then lost 0-1 to UFSAS Bamako.
Niare’s exploits had earned him a call-up for Mali’s squad for the ties against Mauritania in the Africa Nations Cup, a competition for domestically based players only.
The Etoile Du Mande Facebook page did announce its team for today’s game, but only listed 10 players, and didn’t give their numbers !
AS Onze Createurs de Niarela
Onze Createurs translates as Eleven Creators. It was difficult to discover much information about the club and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2020 !
One recent piece of news on their squad was that star striker Lamine Diakite, who was the top scorer in the 2023/24 Premiere Division had been left out of the Mali squad for the Africa Nations Cup matches against Mauritania, which Mali lost 0-1 on aggregate. Diakite was also rumoured to be imminently about to join Tanzanian side Young Africans.
The other news item was that Namory Traore would be in goal today against Etoiles Du Mande but no information about the rest of their side.
Onze Createurs have never won the Mali championship but had twice won the Mali Cup, in 2014 and 2016, which then saw them go on to win the Mali Super Cup in 2016. Last season they finished 11th in the Premiere Division.
Onze Createurs began the season with a 2-0 victory over Korofina but were then held to a goal-less draw by AS Police. An emphatic 2-0 win over Real Bamako followed but the unbeaten record was ended with a 1-2 defeat against Afrique Football Elite. However, they were still in second place in the table after that result, although Djoliba and Stade Malien had two games in hand due to matches being postponed due their participation in CAF competitions.
Matchday Information
Today’s game was being played at the Stade Centre Salif Keita in Kati, which is a commune 15km north-west of Bamako. The ground has one stand with 1,000 seats on the opposite side to the camera, with the seats in blue, yellow and purple sections, and the word KATI spelt on seats at both ends of the stand. It looked like the pitch was an artificial grass surface, and it was surrounded by a running track.
The weather at the 15.45 local time ( the time same as the UK ) was sunny and 24 degrees.
Etoiles Du Mande were playing in red shirts and shorts with light blue socks, whilst Onze Createurs were in all yellow.
The match was streamed live on the FIFA+ website but with no commentary, no action replays, team line-ups, substitutions etc and the only graphic was the time and score.
Match Report
Onze Createurs started strongly and in the third minute Diakite went down inside the Stars penalty area, but the referee ignored the appeals for a penalty. A minute late Diakite flashed a shot across the face of the goal and narrowly wide, but he had failed to see his number 11 unmarked at the far post who would have had a tap in.
Diakite continued to look the main threat and in the 9th minute he volleyed a right wing cross a couple of feet over the bar.
The Stars were first seen as an attacking threat in the 11th minute when they won a free kick just outside the Onze Createurs area, but the kick was poorly hit into the defensive wall.
In the 14th minutes, OC’s number 2 was played in round the back of the Stars left-back but his attempt to lift the ball over the keeper was easily caught. Onze Createurs continued to press and a right-wing cross from their number 13 saw number 11 slid in at the back post, only to put the ball a couple of feet wide.
The opening goal finally arrived, albeit with a strong element of good fortune. Onze Createurs’ number 10 was in space in the right-hand channel of the Stars area, but his first time shot was horribly mishit, but fortunately for his side the bouncing ball went straight to the unmarked Diakite at the far post who steered home. Appeals for offside were ignored so it was 0-1 after 23 minutes.
The Stars nearly hit back three minutes later. Onze Createurs number 6 gave away a free kick just outside his area after losing possession, and Muiz Owolabi stepped up to send the kick crashing against the bar and away for a goal kick.
The number 10 for Onze Createurs was looking lively and went down just inside the penalty area. It looked like he had been tripped but again the referee was unimpressed and play continued.
The Stars won a corner with six minutes of the half remaining, which was played short to Lousseyni Keita but the ball into the danger zone was mishit and although a Stars played attempted a diving header, he failed to make contact and keeper Traore gathered.
The last action of the first half saw Onze Createurs number 3 cross from the right for Diakite to slide onto it but his attempt was blocked at close range by a defender.
Onze Createurs had deserved their lead although the Stars had played some nice, technical football but had been lacking in the final third.
The Stars made two changes at the interval, but it was the visitors who started better, with number 10 skipping past Tiemoko Berthe, but keeper Fofana was able to dive onto the ball across the 6-yard line. OC’s Number 10 then hit a ball first time left footed from the edge of the area just wide.
Diakite latched onto a long ball down the left-hand channel, getting to the ball just ahead of keeper Fofana, who brought him down for a clear penalty. Diakite was OK to continue but number 10 picked up the ball, and sent the keeper the wrong was from the spot. 0-2 with 59 minutes on the clock.
Stars substitute Sidibe went on a mazy run but was crowded out on the edge of the area and Onze Createurs swiftly counter attacked, but number 10’s attempted incisive through ball to number 11 was too strong and rolled through to keeper Fofana.
A dangerous long ball by the Stars was pushed weakly past the OC keeper but Traore was able to recover and dive onto the ball before any Stars attacker could put it into the empty net.
Stars left-back Lassine Keita then ran past Onze Createurs number 3, who brought him down for a penalty for the Stars. Despite keeper Traore bouncing up and down on the line, Niare coolly sent him the wrong way as the keeper dived to his right. 1-2 with 69 minutes played and game on !
The Stars upped the tempo, and a good move released Lassine Keita on the left, but his cross was plucked from the air by Traore. A Stars corner was well headed away by OC’s number 6 for a throw, then Ange Orphet’s cross was met on the run by a leaping Niare, but the header from 8 yards went just over the bar.
At the other end a cute pass from OC number 11 nearly found Diakite but good defending from Lassine Keita escorted the ball out of play for a goal kick.
Onze Createurs made a triple substitution to stem the tide, and with 10 minutes remaining Diakite headed back to substitute number 18, who from 25 yards could only smack the bouncing ball 10 yards over the bar.
A minute later a Stars shot from the edge of the area by Camara hit a defender, but the Onze Createurs keeper pounced onto the loose ball.
Orphet was then in a promising position just outside the OC area on the right, but OC number 6 slid in and emerged with the ball. With time running out, the Stars won a free kick midway inside the Onze Createurs half, but the chance was wasted as the over-hit free kick sailed harmlessly off for a goal kick.
As the game moved into the third minute of added on time, a Stars free kick was headed away and although a first time long range effort was returned, Traore saved low down at his near post and the referee blew the whistle to end the contest.
After the day’s other results, Onze Createurs remained in 10th place, but Etoiles Du Mande dropped down to 12th.
Etoile Du Mande : Fofana – Bah, Berthe, Coulibaly, L Keita – A Keita, Camara, Owolabi, 14 ( Sidibe ), 13 ( Orphet ) – Niare
Onze Createurs : Traore – 3, 4, 6, 12 – 11, 2, 13 ( 18 ), 17 ( 7 ) – 10 ( 8 ), Diakite ( 14 )
