Football - Mali: What fate for Thom Saintfiet?

An unexpected wave of resignations
On January 9, the national team of Mali is eliminated by Senegal at the quarter-finals of the AFCON 2025 after a journey without any victory. Four days later, it is the Federation that send a wave of resignations from 10 members of the executive committee of the Malian Federation. Among them, President Mamoutou Touré «Bavieux», as well as his vice-presidents are part of the resignations. A few days later. They will be joined by the other 9 remaining members.

This double wave of resignations within the governing body of Malian football thus marks the end of the term of office of President "Bavieux" who still had a year and a half left. The genesis of this situation brings us back to the election in 2019 of President Mamoutou Touré «Bavieux» as president of FEMAFOOT. The former administrative and financial director of the Malian National Assembly was not the candidate of the regime of the then President of the Republic, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

In 2023, he was re-elected after having just been indicted by the military regime for embezzlement of public funds amounting to 28 million dollars during his visit to the hemicycle from 2013 to 2019. During his absence, it was the first Vice-President Moussa Sylvain Diakité who acted as interim president. 

The spectrum of a normalisation committee
The texts of the Malian Federation indicate that the departure of an absolute majority of the members of the Executive Committee causes the immediate dissolution of the Executive Board. Several versions on the reasons for these defections are flooding in from Bamako. Contacted by Sport News Africa, the resigning members preferred to postpone their reaction until later. The Ministry of Sports, through the National Directorate of Sports, invited to a meeting on February 12 the presidents of the clubs, statutory members of the elective general assembly.

Pending this meeting between the guardianship and the leaders of Malian football, a FIFA delegation is expected in the coming days in the Malian capital. This visit of the world football governing body should confirm the retention of the secretary general of FEMAFOOT for the management of current affairs, the organization of an emergency general assembly to elect a new president and a new executive board. While hoping that Mali will once again fall under the banner of a standardization committee as was the case with Sidy Diallo in 2017.

Saintfiet's fate on a thread
Even if it cannot be the only cause, the mixed record of the Malian team at the last Africa Cup of Nations did not help reconcile Malian football. This imbroglio around the FEMAFOOT further weakens the future of Tom Saintfiet. The Belgian coach of Les Aigles, already highly contested, had been evasive about his future at the head of this selection. 

« I have two more months before the next gathering. I will know if I am still coach (...) I learned on the net that the whole Federation has resigned but no one told me anything,"

 said the 52-year-old technician during an interview given to RTBF. 

In the meantime, the national championship continues with co-management by the general secretariat of FEMAFOOT and the ad hoc commission set up for the professional championship. The current performances of Stade Malien in the CAF Champions League appear as a contrast to the current state of Malian football. The clouds darken over the future of a football that has often shown resilience despite limited means and an atmosphere far from being conducive to performance.