December 22, 2025
The 35th edition of the Africa Cup Of Nations is being held in Morocco, and due to the ever-congested global calendar, it is the first time the tournament has been played over Christmas and New Year. The Finals were initially awarded to Guinea, but they were stripped of being hosts due to the inadequacy and lack of progress in the preparation to be ready to host the tournament, and Morocco, who already had the infrastructure in place, were selected as replacement hosts.
24 countries were playing in the Finals, which were being played across 9 stadiums, and unusually, there are no countries making their first ever appearance in the AFCON finals.
Yesterday saw the first match in the Finals as Morocco beat Comoros 2-0. Today’s match was the second to be played, and was in the same group. The top two qualify for the last 16, plus the four best third placed teams from the six groups.
Football in Mali
In January 2025, these diaries reported on a game in the Mali Premiere Division, when Etoiles Du Mande lost 1-2 at home to AS Onze Createurs de Niarela. That report provided a brief summary of the national team as well as the top league in Mali.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2025/01/etoiles-du-mande-1-2-as-onze-createurs.html
Mali currently had a FIFA ranking of 54 and are also known as The Eagles. In the recently completed World Cup qualification campaign Mali had finished 3rd in their group with a 5-3-2 record, to end 7 points behind group winners Ghana. Both defeats came against Ghana ( 1-2 at home and 0-1 away ), whilst the draws were against Central African Republic ( 1-1 at home and 0-0 away ), and 0-0 away to Madagascar.
Three home wins were recorded, 3-0 against Comoros, 3-1 against Chad and 4-1 over Madagascar, in what was Maili’s most recent competitive fixture.
The away wins were 3-0 against Comoros and 2-0 over Chad. Brest midfielder Kamory Doumbia ( 26 caps ) was Mali’s top scorer in the group with 7 goals.
Mali qualified for AFCON 25 by topping a four team group with all 6 matches played in 2024. Mali beat Eswatini ( 6-0 home and 1-0 away ), beat Guinea-Bissau 1-0 at home and drew 0-0 away, and drew 1-1 at home with Mozambique, with a 1-0 win away. Fenerbahce winger Dorgeles Nene ( 28 caps ) scored a hat-trick in the romp against Eswatini
Mali Squad
The only members of the Mail squad currently playing in England were Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive midfielder Yves Bissouma ( 46 caps ), who previously played for Brighton and Hove Albion, and 19 year-old Watford striker Mamadou Doumbia ( 4 caps ). Crystal Palace midfielder Chieck Doucoure ( 16 caps ) and Wolves midfielder Boubacar Doucoure ( 4 caps ), who is currently on loan at Metz, were not selected.
Central midfielder Lassana Coulibaly ( 53 caps ) had a season on loan at Glasgow Rangers from Angers but is now playing in Serie A for Leece, whilst full-back Woyo Coulibaly ( 3 caps ) had a short spell at Leicester City and is now at Serie A side Sassuolo.
Right-back Hamari Traore ( 59 caps ) played in Spain for Real Sociedad but is now with Paris FC, midfielder Amadou Haidara ( 49 caps ) is a mainstay at RB Leipzig, and defensive midfielder Mohamed Camara ( 35 caps ) played for Monaco, but is now playing in Qatar for Al Sadd. Winger Lassine Sinayoko ( 26 caps ) was with Auxerre.
None of the Mali squad played in their own country and only two played their club football in Africa. Keeper and captain Djigui Diarra ( 61 caps ) played in Tanzania for Young Africans and was featured in these diaries playing for his club in 2022, and midfielder Aliou Deng played for Al Ahly in Egypt.
Mali’s squad of 28 players were spread across 15 countries, France being the highest represented with 8 players, with England, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey each providing two players.
Belgian Coach Tom Saintfiet is perhaps the definition of a journeyman International manager, with Mali being the 13th country he had taken charge of.
Football in Zambia
This would be the first time Fatbear had covered Zambian football…….
The MTN Zambia Super League consists of 18 teams who play each other twice for a 34-game season. The 2024/25 champions were Power Dynamos from the city of Kitwe, who finished 5 points ahead of Ndola based ZESCO United.
Fourteen rounds of the 2025/26 season had been completed so far, with Red Arrows 4 points clear of Zanaco, with Power Dynamos a further point behind.
Since 2007, ZESCO United had won 9 titles, Zanaco from Lusaka had won 3 times, Kitwe sides Nkana and Power Dynamos had both won twice, and Lusaka’s Red Arrows had also won the league twice.
In the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, Power Dynamos eliminated ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast and Ugandan side Vipers to reach the Group stages where they had so far lost at Moroccan Champions RS Berkane 3-0 and 0-1 at home to 2024/25 CAF Champions League winners Pyramids from Egypt.
In the 2025/26 CAF Confederations Cup, ZESCO United were eliminated 0-1 on aggregate in the First Round by Dynamos, the Zimbabwean Cup Winners.
Zambia National Team
Zambia currently had a FIFA ranking of 90 but had been as high as 15th in 1996, not long after 18 players had been killed in an air disaster in 1993 when the team was en-route to a fixture in Senegal.
Zambia had never qualified for the World Cup Finals, but won AFCON in 2012, which was held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, where they beat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. They had been runners-up in 1974 and third place in 1984, 1990 and 1996.
In the recently completed World Cup qualification campaign Zambia finished a disappointing 4th in their group with a 3-0-5 record. They were awarded a 3-0 forfeit away victory over Congo after a ban on the Congolese for government interference, having won the home fixture 4-2. The other victory was a 1-0 success at home to Tanzania but losses were recorded against Morocco ( H 0-2, A 1-2 ), Niger ( H 0-1, A 1-2 ) and Tanzania ( A 0-1 )
Zambia also topped their qualification group for AFCON 2025, impressively finishing ahead of Ivory Coast, who they beat 1-0 at home in front of a crowd of 49,800 in Ndola but lost 0-2 in Bouake. Sierra Leone were beaten 3-2 at home and 1-0 away, and a 0-0 home draw was played against Chad, but the away game, played in the Cameroon, was won 1-0. Striker Kennedy Musonda ( 17 caps ), who now plays in Israel for Hapoel Ramat Gan scored 4 goals in qualification.
Perhaps the most famous footballer to come from Zambia was former PSV Eindhoven striker Kalusha Bwalya, who scored 39 goals in 87 appearances. Striker Emmanuel Mayuka ( 61 caps ) was the top scorer at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and played for Southampton, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Young Boys Bern amongst others.
Midfielder Enock Mwepu was making his mark in the Premier League with Brighton and Hove Albion when he was forced to retire at the age of 24 after being diagnosed with a hereditary heart condition. Forward Chanka Zimba was now with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but appeared in these diaries for Maidenhead United whilst on loan from Cardiff City.
The nickname for the Zambia national team is Chipolopolo, which is nothing to do with small sausages, but instead means The Copper Bullets.
Zambia Squad
Unlike Mali, 13 of the Zambia squad plied their trade in their domestic league, with ZESCO United and Power Dynamos each providing 4 players. The rest of the squad were spread across 12 countries.
Three of the squad played in Isreal, and in addition to Kennedy Musonda, midfielders Kings Kangwa ( 39 caps ) and Joseph Sabobo ( 7 caps ) played for Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
The one player making his living in England was Leicester City striker Patson Daka ( 21 goals in 48 caps ) whilst defensive midfielder Miguel Chaiwa ( 11 caps ) played in Scotland for Hibernian. Striker Fashion Sakala ( 37 caps ) spent two seasons with Glasgow Rangers after having been with Spartak Moscow and Oostende, but was now playing in Saudi Arabia, whilst defender Frankie Musonda ( 19 caps ) was born in Bedford and began his career at Luton Town, with loans to Oxford City and St Albans City before moving to Raith Rovers and Ayr United, but is now playing in Bahrain.
There were two players from Italy, Leece midfielder Lameck Banda ( 17 caps ) and Cagliari’s 19 year-old Joseph Liteta, who was yet to play for the Sardinian’s first team and was uncapped.
Defender Stoppila Sunzu ( 93 caps ) was with second tier Chinese side Changchun Yatai, midfielder Lubambo Musonda ( 56 caps ) played for German Bundesliga 2 side FC Magdeburg, defender Benson Sakala ( 42 caps ) was with Czech Side Bohemians 1905, and defender Kabaso Chongo had 50 caps and was now back playing in Zambia for ZESCO United, having previously played in DR Congo for TP Mazembe.
Midtjylland forward Edward Chilufya ( 19 caps ) was missing due a long-term injury sustained on international duty in November.
Zambia’s coach was former International Moses Sichone, who won 14 caps, and played for German sides 1.FC Koln, Alemannia Aachen, Kickers Offenbach and Carl Zeiss Jena.
Matchday Information
The match was being played at the 45,000 capacity Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, which is the home ground for Moroccan giants Wydad AC and Raja Club Athletic, and was featured in these diaries when Raja AC drew 1-1 with Moghreb Atletico Tetouan in the 2022/23 Morocco Botola Pro 1
All AFCON matches were being shown live in the UK over the Channel 4 network, and this match was streamed on the 4seven channel ( Sky channel 137 ).
Bet365, who also live streamed the game made Mali 3/4 favourites, with Zambia at 9/2 and the draw 23/10.
Online tickets for the game ranged from 100 to 300 Moroccan Dirhams ( £8 to £25 ), which seemed pricey given average annual income in Mali is around $3k and less than $5K in Zambia.
The weather at the 15.00 local kick-off time ( 14.00 UK ) was 16 degrees and cloudy with some patches of blue sky, after some rain earlier in the day.
Mali were playing in all white kit, apart from a green, yellow and red pattern down the front of their shirts, with red numbers and names, whilst Zambia were in orange shirts with black shorts and orange socks.
Mali made three changes from their last competitive fixture against Madagascar. As expected, captain and keeper Diarra replaced Mamadou Samassa, whilst Besiktas striker El-Bilal Toure ( 26 caps ) and defender Abdoulaye Diaby ( 9 caps ) from Grasshoppers came in for Ousmane Camara and Lassana Coulibaly. Bissouma was missing with a reported ankle injury.
Zambia made five changes from the players that started their last World Cup qualifier against Niger. In came Power Dynamos keeper Willard Mwanza ( 1 cap ), Nkana right-back Mathews Banda ( 4 caps ), Power Dynamos centre-back Domonic Chanda ( 31 caps ), Chaiwa and midfielder Owen Tembo ( 4 caps ), also from Power Dynamos. Out went Mulenga, Mphande, Chongo, Kapumbu and of course Chilufya.
The referee was the highly regarded Omar Abdulkadir Artan from Somalia, who had refereed the 2024/25 CAF Champions League Final
Match Report
The stadium was scarcely populated, probably as few fans from Mali or Zambia could afford to travel to North Africa, and the game hardly capturing the imagination of the locals. The pitch looked in very good condition.
After a quiet opening, Fashion Sakaka pushed the ball through legs of Diaby to run into the Mali area, and then went down with no-one near him. The referee waved play on.
A minute later Mali patiently passed the ball around the Zambia area until Lens midfielder Mamadou Sangare ( 9 caps ) fed Nene on the left-hand side of the area, but the side footed effort was weak and bobbled a couple of feet wide with keeper Mwanza untroubled.
After 7 minutes played, Nene drilled the ball across the Zambia area but too far ahead of Toure. A corner was given but taken short and wasted, but a second corner was awarded, which was also played short and wasted.
At the other end Fofana conceded a corner to deny Daka getting onto a pass into the Mali area. Zambia decided to send the set-piece into the centre of the penalty area but Diarra punched away to safety. Shortly after Kangwa showed good skill to get away from two Mail players near half-way but over-hit his pass to Fashion Sakala and it went off for a throw in.
In the 14th minute Sinayoko turned and shot from the 18-yard line, but keeper Mwanza went down to make a regulation save.
Mali had dominated opening 15 minutes and the pattern continued as a low cross from the right by Sinayoko was going to the Zambian keeper, but Chanda slid in to put the ball out for a corner. This time Mali played into the penalty area but Zambia cleared.
Zambia then lost the ball inside their own half and Toure ran at the defence and slid a pass to Nene inside the area, but the Fenerbache man was crowded out.
In a rare Zambia attack Kangwa played a nice ball down the right-hand channel but the cross from the byline from Mathews Banda went straight to the keeper.
Dante made ground down the left for Mali but his cross was headed away by Chanda into Doumbia, who collided into him. The ball went wide of the goal but the referee awarded a free-kick to Zambia.
Daka then got to the right-hand by-line and delivered a good cross but Diaby dived to head off, not too far away from his near post, for a second corner for Zambia.
The impressive Chaiwa made a good tackle to prevent Sinayoko from breaking into the Zambia area, and a minute later Sangare dragged a 20-yard effort well wide.
There didn’t seem to be much going on when Sinayoko played a low ball from right into the Zambia area and Mathews Banda appeared to get the ball and Nene, and injured himself in the process. Whilst Banda was receiving treatment, VAR checked the incident and the replay showed that Banda got the player first, so it was a penalty !
After a lapse of 5 minutes, Toure put the ball on the spot, then placed his kick to keeper’s left. However, Mwanza dived to make a fine save at full stretch, and Zambia scrambled the rebound off for a corner.
It was goalless at the interval. Mali had wasted a good chance to take the lead, but despite their 58% possession they hadn’t really threatened apart from the penalty. Zambia had an expected xG rating of 0, reflecting they had not yet had a shot, on target or otherwise !
Mali continued to dominate as the second half started but Sangare’s long range strike went straight at the keeper, who made a routine save.
Coulibaly then went down injured after foul by Chaiwa but no free-kick was given. Nene then wriggled into the area on the left and went down after a challenge from Mathews Banda and again the referee said play on, which looked like a good decision.
A nice Mali passing movement found Coulibaly in space on the right, who delivered a good cross, but Toure made a poor contact with his header at the near post, and the ball went yards wide. Chaiwa then committed another foul, but the referee kept his cards in his pockets.
Another rare Zambian incursion into the Mali half saw Diaby needing to cut out a pass from Fashion Sakala intended for Daka at the expense of a corner. A curling delivery from Kangwa sailed not too far from back post. Shortly after a Zambian cross was sent from the left wing but there was no-one in the middle to attack it. Zambia were still to have a shot !
Sloppy defending gave Mali a throw near the Zambia corner flag, which was quickly sent into the 6-yard box. The first effort from Sinayoko was bravely blocked by Chanda but Sinayoko slammed the rebound into the roof of the net from 6 yards. Mali led 1-0 after 62 minutes.
Zambia were rocked by falling behind but Doumbia’s 25-yard effort was mis-hit and bobbled wide. Then Doumbia ran past two defenders into the Zambia area and hit the deck, but again no penalty was given, especially as Benson Sakala had taken the ball away from Malian midfielder, and it was another good decision by the Somalian official.
The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 64th minute when Dieng tripped Kangwa after the Zambian midfielder had surged from the half-way line. The free-kick was hit long and Fashion Sakala got on the end of it, but his effort was blocked at the near post by Diarra. However, the offside flag was raised so it didn’t count as a shot !
Zambia made the first substitutions of the game in the 66th minute, including a debut for ZESCO United’s David Simukonda.
Mali were still looking the side more likely to score the second goal of the game, and with 70 minutes on the clock, Nene’s curling shot from the edge of the area was pushed away for a corner by the diving Mwenza. Diaby was deemed to have fouled the keeper at the corner, although the challenged looked fine to Fatbear, but goalkeepers are a protected species !
A long throw Mathews Banda was flicked on and Coulibaly needed to concede a corner at the back post. After the corner was partially cleared, Kangwa put the ball back into the mixer and after Coulibaly’s poor defensive header, an acrobatic kick from Chanda produced a dog’s dinner save from Diarra, looking good for the cameras. At least Zambia now had an effort on target…….
Mail made their first two changes, bringing on Mahamadou Doumbia ( 1 cap ) formerly of Antwerp but now playing in Saudi Arabia for Al Ittihad, and Feyenoord’s Gaoussou Diarra ( 5 caps ).
Zambia main weapon now appeared to be long throws from Mathews Banda but Mali were dealing with them. At the other end, Sinayoko cut inside but sent a fierce shot from the 18 yard line inches wide of far post.
Zambia were finally stirring and substitute Kennedy Kennedy Musonda made a neat turn to get away from two markers but his intended reverse pass for Daka was intercepted.
With two minutes remaining Zambia won a free-kick on the right wing, but for once Kangwa’s delivery was poor and headed away by the first defender. Zambia reworked possession and after good turn and cross by Simukonda, Daka’s header went high and wide.
With normal time just about up, Zambia played a corner short, but Tembo shot weakly from distance, but Daka was able to gather and put the ball wide for Kangwa to cross from the left wing. Under pressure, Benson Sakala could only head high over the bar.
Zambia continued to press and a delightful left footed cross from right from Mathews Banda was delivered into the Mali area, and Daka ghosted between Diaby and Dante to dive and head past Diarra from 10 yards. A rare moment of quality from Zambia, and it was 1-1 after 92 minutes.
Mali briefly threatened but a great tackle from Benson Sakala prevented Sinayoko from getting on to a cute pass into area. The final whistle went before Zambia could make a final substitution.
Zambia had played their get out of jail card to grab a late equaliser, after only being seen as an attacking force in the last 5 minutes of the game. Mali will rue not be able to see the game out, or making more of their possession, and of course, the missed penalty.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AShAUoi8OU
Mali : Diarra – Fofana Diaby, Dante - Sinayoko , W. Coulibaly, Dieng, Sangare, Nene ( M.Doumbia ) – K. Doumbia ( Haidara ) - Toure ( G. Diarra )
Zambia : Mwanza – M.Banda, Chanda, B. Sakala, L Musonda - L Banda ( Sabobo ), Chaiwa ( Simukonda ), Tembo, Kangwa – Daka, F. Sakala ( K. Musonda )
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