A few days before the start of the new season, the Malian Football Federation was in conclave. The management team, which was reappointed a few days ago, announced some major new measures.
Increased funding for competitionsNearly 3 months after As Real's D1 triumph, the Malian Football Federation (Femafoot) has announced a number of innovations, including an increase in the financial endowments of its competitions for the period 2023 - 2024.
The rewards for both the championship and the Malian Cup have been improved.The Malian Champion, at the end of the season, will now receive 30 million CFA francs (45 thousand euros), compared with 20 million last year (30 thousand euros), the runner-up will receive 15 million and the third-place finisher 10 million.
For the Women's Championship, the champion team will now receive 10 million CFA francs (15 thousand euros) compared with 3 million previously (4.5 thousand euros), the runner-up will receive 5 million and the third 2 million.
As for the Mali Cup, the winner will receive 25 million FCFA (38 thousand euros) compared with 10 million previously (15 thousand euros), and the runner-up will receive 10 million compared with 5 million.
As for the winning team of the Coupe du Mali, it will receive 6 million FCFA (9 thousand euros) compared with 5 million previously, and the runner-up will receive 3 million compared with 2 million previously.
Professionalism from 2024-2025
This new season will see a number of innovations, with four clubs relegated to the second division. Of the 16 clubs competing in the Championnat National Ligue 1, four will be relegated to the second division at the end of Matchday 30, leaving 12 clubs. These 12 clubs will be completed to 14 by the 2 clubs that will move up from the 2nd division. These clubs will have to comply with a set of specifications.
This will pave the way for the professionalization of Mali's Ligue 1 for the 2024-2025 season. "A set of specifications will be published in the coming days to enable us to gain further experience from neighboring countries that have already embarked on professionalism," announced Moussa Sylvain Diakité, vice-president of Femafoot, at a press conference organized for this purpose. He also announced that specialists would be responsible for selecting the season's best players, who would be awarded prizes on the night of sporting merit organized by the Malian Football Federation.
Les Aigles Dames eliminated from the Paris Olympics?
And that's not all: Mali's international competition schedule has also been analysed. The Eagles of Mali will be taking part in a number of international events. The Cadet Eagles will be taking part in the World Cup in Indonesia from November 10 to December 2. As for the seniors, they will be taking part in the AFCON Côte d'Ivoire 2023 and the Espoirs in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
If the Aigles Dames continue with the WAFCON Morocco 2024 qualifiers, Mali could forfeit the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Malian state will not be able to meet the expenses of the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers and those of the U20 Girls World Cup.
"the State is not prepared to finance the U17, U20 women's competitions and the Olympic Games qualifiers," Femafoot announced. However, the State will fully fund the CAN Morocco 2024 qualifiers in the double-header against Guinea. The latest news is that Mali's U20 girls, who are due to face Algeria, will be travelling to Algiers. And they will play the World Cup qualifying double-header in Algiers against the Algerian juniors.
In the meantime, preparatory matches have already been scheduled for the men's national teams.
A training camp is scheduled for the U-17s in Saudi Arabia, with a double friendly against Ecuador. And the senior Eagles, preparing for the 2023 AFCON, will play two friendly matches against Uganda on October 13 at the Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako and Saudi Arabia on October 17 in Portugal, before the 2026 World Cup qualifiers with two matches scheduled for November.
